Pierre Bonnard
French, 1867–1947
Women with a Dog
1891
Bonnard’s painting shows his sister and cousin playing with the family dog in a garden, with three figures just visible behind them. The artist compressed the space and simplified the forms, flattening the folds and patterns of the women’s clothing. He also outlined shapes in pencil and ink, occasionally scratching them into the paint. These experimental techniques are characteristic of a decorative style pursued by a group of young painters known as the Nabis (Prophets), with whom Bonnard was associated at the time.
| Medium | oil and ink on canvas |
| Dimensions | 16 1/8 x 12 13/16 in. (41 x 32.5 cm) Frame: 26 7/8 x 23 11/16 in. (68.3 x 60.2 cm) |
| Object Number | 1979.23 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by the Clark, 1979 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Pierre Bonnard, Women with a Dog, 1891, oil and ink on canvas. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 1979.23
Select Bibliography
Städtische Kunsthalle. Die Nabis und ihre Freunde. Exhibition catalogue. Mannheim, Germany: Städtische Kunsthalle, 1964.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries. Retrospective of a Gallery: Twenty Years. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1973.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries. Twenty Years of Post-Impressionism, 1880-1900: A Selection of Paintings from the Gallery's Collection. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, n.d. [1974].
Feldman, Sandra K., ed. Twenty-Five Selections from the European Collection of Hirschl & Adler Galleries. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1977.
Wildenstein & Co. The Inquiring Eye of Pierre Bonnard. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Wildenstein & Co., 1981.
Feeney, Maura. A La Mode: Women's Fashions in French Art, 1850-1900. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1982.
Perucchi-Petri, Ursula. Bonnard. Exhibition catalogue. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1984.
Shackelford, George and Mary Tavener Holmes. A Magic Mirror: The Portrait in France, 1700-1900. Exhibition catalogue. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1986.
Ives, Colta, Helen Giambruni, Sasha Newman. Pierre Bonnard: The Graphic Art. Exhibition catalogue. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.
Daguerre de Hureux, Alain, et al. Pierre Bonnard, 18671947. Exhibition catalogue. Tokyo: Art Life, Inc., 1991.
Frèches-Thory, Claire and Ursula Perucchi-Petri. Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne. Exhibition catalogue, French edition. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich; Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1993.
Terrasse, Antoine. Bonnard. Exhibition catalogue. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 1994.
Seurière, Maurice. "Hommage à Bonnard." Arts, Spectacles 568 (1622 May 1956).
Besson, George. "Bonnard et Marquet: 2 Contraires." Lettres Françaises (17 May 1956).
Anonymous. "Homage à Bonnard." Nice-Matin (19 May 1956).
Anonymous. Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot New Series, no. 22 (31 May 1963).
Anonymous. "The Sale Room." Apollo 78, no. 148 (September 1963).
Anonymous. Art and Auction 7, no. 162 (15 January 1964).
Perucchi-Petri, Ursula. Bonnard und Vuillard im Kunsthaus Zürich. Zürich: ABC Verlag, 1972.
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. Advertisement. Apollo n.s. 100, no. 3 (September 1974).
Anonymous. "La chronique des arts: Principales acquisitions des musées en 1979." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 95 (supplement, May 1980).
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Terrasse, Antoine. Bonnard. Revised edition. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1988.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Cogeval, Guy. Bonnard. Les Chefs d'Oenvre 0986-4598. Paris: Fernand Hazan, 1993.
Kern, Steven, et al. The Clark: Selections from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996.
Kruszynski, Anette, and Joachim Kaak, eds. Pierre Bonnard: Das Glück zu Malen. Düsseldorf: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and Richter Verlag, 1993.
Anonymous. "Nineteenth-Century Painting and Sculpture." The Magazine Antiques 152 (October 1997): 522–31.
Cogeval, Guy. Le Temps des Nabis. Aug. 20-Nov. 22, 1998. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. 1998.
Groom, Gloria. Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel, 1890-1930. Exhibition catalogue. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Dauberville, Jean, and Henry Dauberville. Bonnard: catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint. 4 vols. Paris: J. & H. Bernheim, 196574.
Turner, Elizabeth Hutton. Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late. Exhibition catalogue. Washington, DC: The Phillips Collection, 2002.
Billeter, Erika. Hunde und Ihre Maler: Zwischen Tizians Aristokraten und Picassos Gauklern. Bern: Benteli Verlag AG, 2005.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Galerie Bernheim Jeune. Hommage à Bonnard. Paris: Galerie Bernheim Jeune, 1956.
Bowness, Alan. Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European and American Painting, 1880-1906. Exhibition catalogue. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980.
Perucchi-Petri, Ursula. Die Nabis und Japan : das Frühwerk von Bonnard, Vuillard und Denis. München: Prestel, 1976.
Perucchi-Petri, Ursula. "Les Nabis et le Japon." In Japonisme in Art: An International Symposium. Edited by the Society for the Study of Japonisme. Tokyo: Committee for the Year 2001, 1980.
Giambruni, Helen Emery. Early Bonnard, 18851900. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.
Terrasse, Michel. Bonnard: Du Dessin au Tableau. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1994.
Satullo, Steven A. "Collecting Beyond the Clarks." Journal of the Clark Art Institute 3 (2002): 3245.
Cahill, Timothy. Art in Nature: The Clark Art Inside and Out. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francince Clark Art Institute, 2005
Wolsk, Nancy Coleman. "Pierre Bonnard: The Painter's View of Family and Friends." Bark: The Dog's Culture 53 (MarchApril 2009).
Finckh, Gerhard, and Peter Kropmanns, eds. Pierre Bonnard, Magier der Farbe. Exhibition catalogue. Wuppertal: Von der Heydt-Museum, 2010.
Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.
Whitfield, Sarah, and John Elderfield. Bonnard. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
Frèches-Thory, Claire, and Ursula Perucchi-Petri. Nabis, 1888–1900: Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Georges Lacombe, Aristide Maillol, Paul-Elie Ranson, József Rippl-Rónai, Kerr-Xavier Roussel, Paul Sérusier, Félix Vallotton, Jan Verkade, Edouard Vuillard. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux; Munich: Prestel, 1993.
Bouvet, Francis. Bonnard, the Complete Graphic Work, with an introduction by Antoine Terrasse, translated from the French by Jane Brenton. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1981.
EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY
Provenance
Olivier Sainsère, Paris; sale, Musée Galliéra, Paris, 19 June 1963, no. 1, as Femme au chien; Philippe Durand-Ruel, Paris (1963–65); [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, in 1965]; Mr. and Mrs. Lowell S. Dillingham, Honolulu (1965–73, sold to Hirschl & Adler, 1 Dec. 1973); [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1973–79, sold to the Clark, 24 July 1979]; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1979.
