The Little Laundress (La petite blanchisseuse)
Pierre Bonnard (1867 - 1947), 1896
lithograph in five colours on China paper, 49.5 cm x 37.8 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
The French artist Pierre Bonnard was brilliant at representing intimate, everyday scenes. This laundrywoman is a beautiful example. The little figure with her big basket creates a simple, touching atmosphere, which is heightened by the little dog.
Bonnard constructed the scene from a series of planes, to which the lithography technique lent itself well. The grey street with its white stones takes up a large part of the image. The silhouette of the laundrywoman stands out strongly against the light background – a pictorial style that derives from Japanese printmaking. The shadow theatre of the print artist Henri Rivière was another source of inspiration. Performances at Le Chat Noir nightclub used figures cut from sheets of zinc, the shadows of which were cast onto a white screen by a bright light. Bonnard and his fellow artists were regular members of the audience.
The Little Laundress comes from the Album des peintres-graveurs, which contained twenty-two prints in a variety of styles and techniques, each by a different artist or engraver. It was offered for sale by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard at 150 francs a copy. Publishing a compilation like this was a way to meet strong demand for prints.
What is it?
What can you see?
Context
- Object number
- p1108V2000
- Dimensions
- 49.5 cm x 37.8 cm, 29.4 cm x 19.8 cm
- Catalogue raisonné
- Roger-Marx 42,Bouvet 40
- printmaker
- Pierre Bonnard
- printer
- Auguste Clot
- publisher
- Ambroise Vollard
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
- signature and date
- Bonnard 96 , oorspronkelijk stond er 95, later gewijzigd
- number
- Cl 132
Tokyo, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Prints in Paris 1900: From Elite to the Street, 18 October 2017-8 January 2018
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Prints in Paris 1900. Van elitair tot populair, 3 March-11 June 2017
Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), Henri Marie Petiet (1894-1980) and printmaking in France, pp. 64, 69, 89
Roca, Clara, Hidalgo, Anne, Leribault, Christophe, Édition limitée : Vollard, Petiet et l'estampe de maîtres, Paris, 2021
Serrano, Véronique, Pernoud, Emmanuel, Cahn, Isabelle, Enfances rêvées : Bonnard, les Nabis et l'enfance = Gaka ga mita kodomoten : Gohho, Bonāru, Vyuiyāru, Doni, Varotton, Tokyo, 2020, p. 56
Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Prints in Paris 1900 : from elite to the street, Amsterdam, 2017, p. 28, 123
Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Prints in Paris 1900 : van elitair tot populair, Amsterdam, 2017, p. 28, 123
Easton, E. Wynne, Chéroux, C., Ooms, Saskia, Rooseboom, Hans, Snapshot : painters and photography 1888-1915, New Haven, 2011
Brenneman, D.A., Castleman, R., Dickey, L., Fowle, F., Toulouse-Lautrec & friends : the Irene and Howard Stein collection, Atlanta, 2010, p. 110-113
Morel, Jean-Paul, C'était Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 2007, p. 259-271
Serrano, Véronique, Dessins de Pierre Bonnard : une collection privée, Paris, 2007, p. 20-21
Rabinow, R.A., Druick, Douglas W., Dumas, Ann, Cézanne to Picasso : Ambroise Vollard, patron of the Avant-Garde, New Haven, 2006, p. 189-196
Roque, G., La stratégie de Bonnard : couleur, lumière, regard, Paris, 2006, p. 189
Genty, Gilles, Vernon, P., Bonnard : inédits, Paris, 2003, p. 80-81
Frèches-Thory, C., Terrasse, A., Les Nabis, Paris, 2002, p. 226-227, 229
Berès, A., Arveiller, M., Les peintres graveurs, 1890-1900, Paris, 2002, no. 3
Hutton Turner, E., Coleman Wolsk, N., Pierre Bonnard : early and late, London, 2002, p. 192
Döring, J., Toulouse-Lautrec und die Belle Epoque, München, 2002, p. 152-153
Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, Die Nabis und das moderne Paris : Bonnard, Vuillard, Vallotton und Toulouse-Lautrec, aus der Sammlung Arthur und Hedy Hahnloser-Bühler und aus Schweizer Museums- und Privatbesitz, Bern, 2001, p. 63-68
Prat, Jean-Louis, Bonnard, Martigny, 1999, p. 218
Ittmann, J., Post-impressionist prints : Paris in the 1890s, Philadelphia, 1998, p. 52-56
Weston, W., Masterworks in lithography : Pierre Bonnard 1867-1947, Édouard Vuillard 1868-1940, London, 1996, no. 8
Frèches-Thory, C., Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, Die Nabis : Propheten der Moderne, München, 1993, p. 436-437
Frèches-Thory, C., Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, Nabis 1888-1900 : Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Georges Lacombe, Aristide Maillol, Paul-Elie Ranson, József Rippl-Rónai, Kerr-Xavier Roussel, Paul Sérusier, Félix Vallotton, Jan Verkade, Edouard Vuillard, Paris, 1993, no.250-251
Fossier, F., La nébuleuse Nabie : les Nabis et l'art graphique, Paris, 1993, p. 108, 117, 119
Aitken, Geneviève, Berès, A., Letonturier, B., Au temps des Nabis, Paris, 1990, no. 39-40
Giambruni, H., Ives, Colta Feller, Newman, S.M., Pierre Bonnard : the graphic art, New York, cop. 1989, no. 48-51
Gilmour, P., Lasting Impressions : lithography as art, London, cop. 1988, p.129-175
Boyer, P. Eckert, Prelinger, E., The Nabis and the Parisian Avant-Garde, New Brunswick (etc.), cop. 1988, p. 71, 73
Wang, R.T., The graphic art of the Nabis, 1888-1900, Ann Arbor [etc.], 1986, p. 156-166
Chaban-Delmas, J., Hommage à Bonnard, Bordeaux, 1986, p. 172
Bailly-Herzberg, Janine, Melot, M., Dictionnaire de l'estampe en France 1830-1950, [Paris], 1985, p. 361
Wichmann, Siegfried, Whitttall, Mary, Ramsay, James, Watanabe, Helen, Japonisme : the Japanese influence on Western art since 1858, London, 1985, p. 261
Bouvet, F., Terrasse, A., Bonnard : the complete graphic work, Paris, 1981, p. 48-49
Johnson, U.E., Ambroise Vollard, editeur : prints, books, bronzes, New York, cop. 1977, p. 17-45
Hüttinger, Eduard, Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, Die Nabis und Japan : das Frühwerk von Bonnard, Vuillard und Denis, München, 1976, p. 76
Weisberg, Gabriel P., Japonisme : Japanese influence on French art 1854-1910, Cleveland [etc.], 1975, p. 104-105
Ives, Colta Feller, The great wave : the influence of Japanese woodcuts on French prints, New York, 1974, p. 56-66
Roger-Marx, C., Bonnard lithographe, Monte-Carlo, 1952, p. 77, 80-81
