Le Promenade (from 'Promenade des nourrices, frise des fiacres' or 'Nurses' promenade, frieze of carriages')
Pierre Bonnard, Artist
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About the Work
“Bonnard
is
a
great
painter.
He
is
often
compared
to
the
painter
Vincent
van
Gogh.
But
I
think
Bonnard
is
a
great
painter,
if
not
greater
than
van
Gogh.
I
think
about
his
work
a
lot.
You
can
see
in
photos
of
his
studio
that
he
likes
to
work
with
the
canvas
directly
on
the
wall,
rather
than
stretched
on
strainer
bars
–
Cy
Twombly
also
worked
like
this.
It
shows
a
level
of
sensitivity
to
his
own
paintwork
and
brush
use.
It
has
touch
sensibility
and
personality.
Little
things
like
this
are
important.
Bonnard’s
work
has
the
foundational
stuff
that
great
paintings
have.
I
mean
there
are
a
few
painters,
only
the
best,
where
you
can
really
learn
about
the
art
form
from
the
artist.
For
me
Matisse
is
one
of
these
artists,
but
so
is
Bonnard.
I
don’t
think
I
am
the
first
generation
of
painters
to
think
this
about
Bonnard,
but
I
have
such
a
fondness
for
him,
that
I
resent
the
earlier
generation
of
painters
who
have
“claimed
him.”
But
that
is
a
younger
artists
prerogative.”
- Andrew McLeod, 'My Choice' exhibition series, August 2022
This work in the Sarjeant collection is the third panel of four part screen. The top portion of the panel (which showed the frieze of carriages) has been removed leaving only the figures. The complete four part screen can be viewed at the Musée d'Orsay weblink below. Their website states the following:
In 1894, Bonnard wrote to his mother: "I am working on a screen [...]. It is of the Place de la Concorde with a young mother walking with her children, with nannies and dogs, and on top, as a border, a carriage rank, and all on a light beige background which is very like the Place de la Concorde when it's dusty and looks like a miniature Sahara".
From his very beginnings as an artist Pierre Bonnard was attracted to the idea of the screen. He first used this medium as a series of decorative panels in his Women in the Garden of 1891 (Musée d'Orsay and Zurich, Kunsthaus) and in an Rural Collection in 1894 (New York, Museum of Modern Art).
Nannies' Promenade, his third attempt, was more ambitious. Bonnard first produced a single picture (private collection) where the motifs, drawn from life, are arranged in tiers on a blank surface. The figures of the young woman and the boys, drawn with gentle humour, stand out in the empty surroundings. The nannies, dogs and carriages, presented on a smaller scale, give the impression of depth. The scene recalls the familiar theme of the park – a subject that inspired Vuillard, that same year, the panels of a large decorative work for Alexandre Natanson (five of which are conserved in the Musée d'Orsay).
Three years after painting this joyful work in distemper, Bonnard decided to transcribe it into five colour lithographs, published and sold as separate sheets, or mounted. The work thus became an object of everyday use, going back to one of the major preoccupations of the Nabis: to bring art into domestic life.
- http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/decorative-arts/commentaire_id/screen-19839.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=846&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=843&cHash=dfebf6c406 (accessed 5/8/2022)
- Andrew McLeod, 'My Choice' exhibition series, August 2022
This work in the Sarjeant collection is the third panel of four part screen. The top portion of the panel (which showed the frieze of carriages) has been removed leaving only the figures. The complete four part screen can be viewed at the Musée d'Orsay weblink below. Their website states the following:
In 1894, Bonnard wrote to his mother: "I am working on a screen [...]. It is of the Place de la Concorde with a young mother walking with her children, with nannies and dogs, and on top, as a border, a carriage rank, and all on a light beige background which is very like the Place de la Concorde when it's dusty and looks like a miniature Sahara".
From his very beginnings as an artist Pierre Bonnard was attracted to the idea of the screen. He first used this medium as a series of decorative panels in his Women in the Garden of 1891 (Musée d'Orsay and Zurich, Kunsthaus) and in an Rural Collection in 1894 (New York, Museum of Modern Art).
Nannies' Promenade, his third attempt, was more ambitious. Bonnard first produced a single picture (private collection) where the motifs, drawn from life, are arranged in tiers on a blank surface. The figures of the young woman and the boys, drawn with gentle humour, stand out in the empty surroundings. The nannies, dogs and carriages, presented on a smaller scale, give the impression of depth. The scene recalls the familiar theme of the park – a subject that inspired Vuillard, that same year, the panels of a large decorative work for Alexandre Natanson (five of which are conserved in the Musée d'Orsay).
Three years after painting this joyful work in distemper, Bonnard decided to transcribe it into five colour lithographs, published and sold as separate sheets, or mounted. The work thus became an object of everyday use, going back to one of the major preoccupations of the Nabis: to bring art into domestic life.
- http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/decorative-arts/commentaire_id/screen-19839.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=846&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=843&cHash=dfebf6c406 (accessed 5/8/2022)
Measurements
Image 140 x 466mm
Media
lithograph on paper
Description
Part three of a four part screen. In this instance the very top of the work showing the frieze of carriages has been cut off. Image shows a woman walking with two young children and two small dogs. The children have a hoop each. The boy is wearing a sailor's style collar, the girl a large frilly bonnet. The image is produced in large blocks of simplified forms using mainly flat colour, highlighting the silhouette of forms and making use of negative space around the shapes. Much of it is printed in gold with touches of other colours including details using black and blue. With the young girl, much of her form is shown using the negative space from the woman's skirts behind her. The woman is wearing a hat and gloves.
Credit Line
Collection of the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Gift of Mr Rex Nan Kivell, 1939.
Collection Type
Permanent collection
Acquisition Date
08 Dec 1939
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Accession Number:
1939/3/1