id: 82853
accession number: 2020.151
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.151
updated: 2023-02-06 16:18:50.919000
Album des peintres-graveurs: The Little Laundress, 1896. Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947), printed by Auguste Clot (French, 1858–1936), Ambroise Vollard (French, 1867–1939). Color lithograph on China paper; image: 29 x 19.7 cm (11 7/16 x 7 3/4 in.); sheet: 45.4 x 33.7 cm (17 7/8 x 13 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.151 © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
title: The Little Laundress
title in original language:
series: Album des peintres-graveurs
series in original language:
creation date: 1896
creation date earliest: 1896
creation date latest: 1896
current location:
creditline: Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift
copyright: © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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culture: France, 19th century
technique: color lithograph on China paper
department: Prints
collection: PR - Lithograph
type: Print
find spot:
catalogue raisonne: Bouvet 40
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CREATORS
* Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947) - artist
Pierre Bonnard was a law student when he began his artistic training in 1887 at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he met Paul Sérusier (1864-1927) and the theorist and painter Maurice Denis (1870-1943). Both would be influential in his artistic career and become Bonnard's lifelong friends. In 1889, the year he obtained his law degree, he saw the exhibition at Café Volpini (see Gauguin, Woman in the Waves, no. 100) and was particularly impressed with Gauguin's work. Sérusier, after having returned from studying with Gauguin in Pont-Aven, decided to form his own artistic group called the Nabis (Hebrew: prophets). The founding members of the Nabis included Denis, who wrote the manifesto for the group, "Définition du néo-traditionnisme" (published in May 1890 in Art et critique), Bonnard, Paul Ranson (1864-1909), and Henri-Gabriel Ibels (1867-1936). Their first exhibition occurred in 1891, and they were later joined by Ker-Xavier Roussel (1867-1944) and Vuillard (q.v.). Based loosely on the synthetist goals established by Gauguin and Émile Bernard, the movement was created from Sérusier's vision of an artistic brotherhood dedicated to symbolism whereby a universal language could be expressed through symbols. The Nabis were opposed to the naturalism taught at academies by artists such as Bouguereau (q.v.) and wanted to move away from didactic and moral paintings toward a more decorative style characterized by simplified drawing, flat patches of color, and heavy set contours. Bonnard's works of the 1890s were influenced by the innovations of Gauguin as well as Japanese prints, which were easily accessible in nineteenth-century Paris. His paintings took on a decorative quality, mirroring his artistic expressions in other media such as stained glass, furniture, pottery, and painted screens. Bonnard's and Vuillard's domestic interior paintings of the 1890s were often described using the term intimisme. In 1891 Bonnard also experimented with other media, including poster designs and lithographs, which inspired his friend Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), whom he had met through La revue blanche, a magazine that published the Nabis' work. Around 1900 the members of the Nabis began to drift apart. Between 1905 and 1910 Bonnard and Vuillard traveled to England, Belgium, Holland, Spain, and Italy, visiting many museums. Bonnard's art began to gravitate toward impressionism, but his colors were more expressive and his compositions more overtly structured; elements of the painted interiors such as doors, windows or pieces of furniture often provided a strong compositional framework. He also worked extensively with photographs. His late works were acclaimed by fellow Parisians like Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and Paul Signac (1863-1935). After 1920 Bonnard exhibited extensively and became an internationally renowned artist, receiving much recognition in the United States, where he traveled in 1926.
* Auguste Clot (French, 1858–1936) - printer
* Ambroise Vollard (French, 1867–1939) - publisher
French art dealer and publisher, 1867-1939
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measurements: Image: 29 x 19.7 cm (11 7/16 x 7 3/4 in.); Sheet: 45.4 x 33.7 cm (17 7/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
state of the work: I/I
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: inscribed and signed, lower right, in graphite: no. 46 / Bonnard; signed and dated, upper center, on stone: Bonnard / 96
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889–1900
opening date: 2021-07-01T04:00:00
Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889–1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (July 1-September 19, 2021).
title: Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection
opening date: 2022-09-11T04:00:00
Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne, Switzerland
date: ?-before 2005
footnotes:
citations:
(R.M Light & Co., Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, sold to Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Shaker Heights, OH)
date: ?-2005
footnotes:
citations:
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Shaker Heights, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 2005-2020
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 2020
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
Bonnard was commissioned to create this print by the renowned art dealer Ambroise Vollard for inclusion in his luxury print portfolio titled Album des peintres-graveurs.
digital description:
This print depicts one of the many women and girls who worked in the Parisian laundry industry during the late 19th century. Carrying a basket that nearly matches her own size, a small silhouetted figure makes her way down an empty street, either picking up or dropping off clothes to a client. Bonnard represented the scene with minimal detail, portraying the laundress as a dark silhouette in stark contrast to the light cobblestones of the street on which she walks.
wall description:
This print shows a young woman hauling a heavy basket of linen across the cobblestones of a Parisian street. The upward slant of her feet indicates that she is in Montmartre, a hilly neighborhood where the artist himself lived. Laundresses were a common sight in 19th-century Paris, and even young children worked in the industry. The small figure is dwarfed by her large basket; she uses an umbrella like a cane to aid her uphill journey. Suggesting the empathy he felt for his subject, Bonnard complemented the figure with an approaching stray dog, similarly ignored in the bustling city.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Bouvet, Francis. Bonnard: The Complete Graphic Work. New York: Rizzoli, 1981.
page number: Mentioned: no. 40
url:
Chapin, Mary Weaver, and Heather Lemonedes Brown. Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889-1900. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021.
page number: Reproduced: P. xi
url:
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IMAGES