906. Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), French,

Self-Portrait in a Shaving Mirror, 1935.

Oil on canvas, 73 x 51 cm.

Musée national d’art moderne,

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Les Nabis.

 

 

Pierre Bonnard

(1867 Fontenay-aux-Roses – 1947 Le Cannet)

 

Pierre Bonnard was one of the founding members of the modern art movement Les Nabis. In 1891 he met Henri Toulouse Lautrec and began showing his work as an amateur at the annual exhibition of the Societé des Artistes Indépendants. His first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1896. In his early 20s Bonnard became part of the artist group Les Nabis and was committed to producing art of a symbolic and spiritual nature. He is well known for his use of intense colour, small brushstrokes and close values. His compositions are complex and both narrative and autobiographical. He often painted sunlit interiors of rooms or gardens peopled with friends and family members. He also painted self portraits, landscapes and many still lifes that generally depicted flowers or fruit. When he painted his compositions he almost never did it from life. He either made sketches of his subjects or took a photograph and notes on colour then later painted the canvas in his studio from his notes.