Bonnard Colour & Light by Nicholas Watkins

Published to coincide with an exhibition of Pierre Bonnard’s work at the Tate Gallery in London (12th February – 17th May 1998) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (24th June – 29th September 1998), this is a concise illustrated survey of Bonnard’s use of colour and light. It reviews his life and work, and sets out to show, through an analysis of key works, how his technique and working methods developed over 50 years. During his long career, Bonnard’s subject matter remained focused on his wife, his homes and his self-portraits, but his approach to these subjects changed radically. At first he worked chiefly in tone, but gradually colour enriched his work, and finally light suffused it. The author argues that Bonnard was not a sentimental survivor of Impressionism, as he was often labelled, but a highly demanding formal artist who transformed light into an emotional atmosphere enveloping the surface within which objects exist.