The Influence, Admiration, and Friendship of Three Artists
Redon, Bonnard, Vuillard
Redon, Bonnard, Vuillard
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“All of our generation fell under his charm and received his advice.”
-Pierre Bonnard on Odilon Redon
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Odilon Redon (1840-1916), and Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) had much in common and greatly influenced each other.
Born almost thirty years before Bonnard and Vuillard, Redon became a source of inspiration for the next generation of painters. Using the traditional landscapes of Corot as a starting point, Redon fused Romanticism and Symbolism in unique and imaginative ways, adapting subject matter from literature and science. In the second half of his career, he put aside the popular black drawings or “noirs” in favor of working in color, allowing the newly popular Impressionist palette to replace the macabre with a new radiance.
Edouard Vuillard, Woman in Profile (Profil de femme), c. 1890
Bonnard, Vuillard, and the Nabi school artists also made bold use of black and white in their early works on paper, but preferred to depict images of daily life. In their work, the use of black and white flattens the picture space and creates a more abstract composition, as seen in Bonnard’s 1893 drawing “O, Ombre” for a proposed children’s book on the alphabet.
Pierre Bonnard, O, Ombre (Dessin pour Un Alphabet sentimental), 1893
By the turn of the century, Redon had adopted a bold color palette that breathed new life into his fantastical subjects. Bonnard actually made color itself the main theme of his later work; and Vuillard turned to a brighter palette as well. All three artists used their great skill in color and composition to depict, though not literally, everything from mythological subjects to portraits, domestic scenes, still lifes and landscapes.
Pierre Bonnard, L'Escalier, c. 1932
Edouard Vuillard, Suzanne Desprès, c. 1908
Edouard Vuillard, Bateaux a l'ancre, Le Pouliguen, 1908
The connections between these three artists can also be seen in their depictions of one another. By the early 20th century, Redon had made lithographic portraits of both Bonnard and Vuillard, who had also made portraits of each other.
Edouard Vuillard, Portrait of Pierre Bonnard, 1930-1935
Pierre Bonnard, Study for a Portrait of Vuillard, c. 1910
Odilon Redon, Portrait of Vuillard (Artist's Proof), 1900
Odilon Redon, Portrait of Bonnard (Artist's Proof), 1902
In 1900, Maurice Denis painted Hommage à Cézanne, which includes fellow Nabi artists Bonnard and Vuillard turning to face an aging Redon.
Image Credits:
Odilon Redon, Rocky Landscape, c. 1880, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Odilon Redon, Tête d'Astrale, c. 1905, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Odilon Redon, Ecstasy (L'Extase), 1880s, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Edouard Vuillard, Woman in Profile (Profil de femme), c. 1890, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Pierre Bonnard, O, Ombre (Dessin pour Un Alphabet sentimental), 1893, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Odilon Redon, Fleurs dans un vase bleu, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Edouard Vuillard, Suzanne Desprès, c. 1908, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Edouard Vuillard, Bateaux a l'ancre, Le Pouliguen, 1908, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Pierre Bonnard, L'Escalier, c. 1932, Jill Newhouse Gallery
Edouard Vuillard, Portrait of Pierre Bonnard, 1930-1935, Musée d'art moderne de Paris (AMVP 2557)
Pierre Bonnard, Study for a Portrait of Vuillard, c. 1910, National Gallery of Art (1995.47.3)
Odilon Redon, Portrait of Vuillard (Artist's Proof), 1900, The Phillips Collection (1627)
Odilon Redon, Portrait of Bonnard (Artist's Proof), 1902, The Phillips Collection (1626)
Maurice Denis, Hommage à Cézanne, 1900, Musée d’Orsay, RF 1977 137
Further Reading:
http://www.jillnewhouse.com/catalogues/odilon-redon
http://www.jillnewhouse.com/catalogues/pierre-bonnard
https://medium.com/cma-thinker/its-a-small-world-odilon-redon-and-the-nabi-artists-74ebfa782ac2
https://seventh-art.com/discovering-art-bonnard-to-vuillard/