Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late [Paperback]

Elizabeth Hutton Turner (Author), Pierre Bonnard (Author), Nancy Wolsk (Author), Phillips Collection (Corporate Author), Denver Art Museum (Corporate Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0943044294 | ISBN-13: 978-0943044293 | Publication Date: July 2002

This major presentation of the work of Pierre Bonnard follows a new line of enquiry reconciling what has previously been seen as two distinct early and creative periods: the Nabis or symbolist Bonnard and the later so-called Impressionist or colorist Bonnard. By uniting representative works from all periods of Bonnard’s life, this book chart’s the artist’s singular pathway and illustrates his highly independent artistic vision. The 130 works illustrated here, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and sculpture, show that Bonnard continually experimented with alternative media and drew from a range of sources, both Eastern and Western.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elizabeth Hutton Turner is Senior Curator of Art, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Phillips Collections (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0943044294
• ISBN-13: 978-0943044293
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,727,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book on an Underrated Painter, July 5, 2003

By 

Peter Stephens "Peter Stephens" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late (Hardcover)

"Early and Late" is the book that accompanied the Phillips Collection's 2002 exhibit on Bonnard's early and late works. The exhibitition was beautiful. The book, of course, doesn't do justice to the colors in the originals, but the book's prints, particularly the details, are very good.

The book includes a chronology of Bonnnard's life, three excellent essays, and some notes from Bonnard's journals. One essay discusses Bonnard's innovations, especially early on and especially his use of photography as a way to prepare for his paintings. Another essay shows how Bonnard's paintings were influenced by his reformed education. A final essay demonstrates Bonnard's debt to Japanese art.

Bonnard's longevity, I think, has kept him from having more of a reputation as an innovator. A quick overview of Bonnard's work shows that he was still painting postimpressionism toward the middle of the 20th Century. His use of different points of view and contrasting colors, and the subservience of the object to the idea make him more than a late impressionist. Basically, I like this guy's work, and this book helped me answer my question, "What is it about this man's painting that I like?"

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phillip's staff has it right, July 28, 2006

By 

Winston hough "klee fan" (Glenview, Il. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late (Paperback)

This is one of the best books on Bonnard the color repros are good and sometimes enlarged.. Besides Antoine Terrase's book" drawing to color "this book shows how Bonnard worked up his paintings from little drawings from a daily diary he used as a sketchbook.The photos shows Bonnard's studio in Le Cannet.Also,Some of his shots of nudes. It has repros found in few other books. I have Bonnard books stemming from the MOMA exhibit after WW11 by John Rewald, Another book that had rare color repros was Bonnard edited by R.J. Beer.This is a good buy and a worthwhile study of the work. Winston Hough

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, too many photos of Bonnard's naked wife, November 14, 2010

By 

Parkermann347 (U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late (Hardcover)

I was looking forward to what could have been the best book on the market for Bonnard, you know, one that would offer a wide range of paintings by this master artist, it is titled: Early and Late. So I got the idea it was filled with many paintings by Bonnard. Duh.

This book has maybe 40 paintings total for the 300 + pages, and the huge amount of space wasted on black and white photos of Bonnard's nude wife astounded me. About 1/4 of the book was devoted to this. Other portions included black and white pictures of posters he designed, etc. This book might be useful for scholars who are interested in how he used his wife as a model, but anyone looking for an ART book will be very disappointed.

Bonnard painted more than 1000 canvases in his lifetime, and yes he used photos he took as guides, but for a book titled "Early and Late" there has to be more than just the handful of so so works included in this book. There really needs to be a good huge coffee table sized book for this artist's wonderful paintings. There are certainly enough, and the title 'Early and Late' could actually be justified.