Pierre Bonnard 1867-1947

The complete set of 12 lithographs printed in colours, 1899, fine impressions, the colours strong, three signed and three initialled in pencil, four with initials removed (traces remaining), one numbered 70, all from the edition of 100, with title-page, printed by Clot, published by Ambroise Vollard, Paris, the prints on fine wove paper, the title-page on china paper, the set with full margins, in generally good condition apart from slight paper discoloration to the edges of sheets, title-page with a short repaired tear to the right edge of sheet, some associated soiling

The complete set comprises, Cover of the Album (B. 58); Avenue de Bois (B. 59); Street Corner (B. 60); House in a Courtyard (B. 61); Street Scene from above (B. 62); Boulevard (B. 63); The Square at evening (B. 64); The Costermonger (B. 65); The Bridge (B. 66); At the Theatre (B. 67); Rainy Street at Evening (B. 68); The Arc de Triomphe (B. 69); Street Corner seen from above (B. 70).  

Quelques Aspect de la vie de Paris are among the most beautiful colour lithographs executed in Paris in the 1890's and are today recognised as Bonnard's major graphic work. The art critic Gustave Geffroy wrote: 'No one better captures the look of the street, the coloured patch seen through the Parisian mist, the passing silhouettes, a young girl's frail grace. A searching hand moving with simian pliancy seizes the passing gesture, the evanescent faces of the street, born and vanished on the instant. It is the poetry of life that is gone, a remembrance of things, of animals, of human beings.'