Pierre Bonnard

Estate of the artist, Paris (sale: Hôtel Drouot, Palais Galliera, Paris, Succession Bonnard, 30th November 1970)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1920-1939, Paris, 1973, vol. III, no. 1264, illustrated p. 219

The canvas is lined. There is a nailhead-sized spot of paint loss with associated retouching beneath the figure's nose. Apart from some minor specks of retouching to the upper right corner, some light scattered specks of retouching to the left of the chair and a further speck of retouching just above the chair, all visible under UV light, this work is in overall good condition. Colours: Fairly accurate although the colours are overall deeper and less red in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1893, Claude Roger-Marx wrote that Bonnard 'catches fleeting poses, steals unconscious gestures, crystallizes the most transient expressions' (C. Roger-Marx, Le Voltaire (1894), quoted in 'Quelques opinions sur Bonnard' in Pierre Bonnard. Les peintures français nouveaux, no. 19, Paris, 1924, p. 12), and Le Corsage Bleu depicts one of these moments, a momentary gaze captured for eternity yet also seemingly retaining some of its intimate and transitory nature. Bonnard stated that his ambition was 'to show what one sees when one enters a room all of a sudden', a seemingly simple task, but one which forced the artist to confront the nature of perception. The radicalism of this ambition was first fully recognised by Jean Clair in 1984; 'the revolution in painting brought about by Bonnard was that, for the first time, a painter attempted to translate onto canvas the data of a vision that is physiologically 'real'...He was the first artist to have attempted to portray on canvas the integrality of the field of vision and so bring nearer to the eye what classical perspective had kept at a distance' (J. Clair, Les Aventures du neuf optique, Washington & London, 1984, p. 36). In this work the artist carefully picks out certain details and clouds others, mimicking perception in a manner that reveals an intense concern with the nature of vision.     

The present work depicts Bonnard's companion Marthe, who featured regularly in the artist's work. Very slight and delicate, Marthe is often depicted in his portraits from the early 1920s as a rather poignant and introspective figure (fig. 1).

Fig. 1, Pierre Bonnard, The Vigil, oil on canvas, 1921, Private Collection