Techniques of Master Famous Artists; Pierre Bonnard

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Standing Nude

La Toilette

Paintings Techniques of Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard was a good example of someone who studied nineteenth century French painting and turned it into something new. He saw technical control as the basis of expression and used what he saw as a means to guard against errors of the past.

He was not a conventional painter by any strech of the imagination. He did not paint directly from life but instead used memory and drawings to form the starting point of a painting. He never made any sketches in color. He did, however, note the intensity of a color. Nor did use a studio. Every room was a studio. He had no easel but instead placed his canvases on the wall with thumbtacks and used a small bamboo table to hold his brushes, with a chipped plate for his colors.

Bonnard's approach was not programmatic by any means. Bonnard painted several paintings at once on a large piece of canvas tacked to the wall. Sometimes he would cut a strip from a canvas or add a strip to one he was working on. He would apply layers of paint and then scrape them down or rework them with paint to achieve the effects he desired.

His color schemes were based on his own personal experience rather than on any predetermined system.

Bonnard also did not use a standard format canvas. He let the painting assume its own dimensions on a large piece of canvas. Some areas were built up with several thin layers while others were painted in thin layers with brushstrokes or even his fingers. When a painting was finished, he then cut the canvas to the size of the piece. He did, however, finish the work after it had been stretched on a frame.

His working methods were guided by what he described as "the wish to show all one sees upon entering a room…what the eye takes in at the first glance".

Bibliography:
Techniques of the Great Masters of Art, Waldemar Januszczak, 1996

Also see
Pierre Bonnard Biography and Nude Paintings

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