In the Bath
Pierre Bonnard
Description
This scene of a woman in her bath is, in all likelihood, an image of Bonnard’s wife, Marthe, who was also his favorite model. Marthe was tubercular and asthmatic as well as agoraphobic, and she bathed compulsively. Her death in 1942, the same year as this lithograph, was devastating for Bonnard.
Bonnard was a painter of light and of the sensual beauty of the female body. His freedom and vividness of handling pigment complemented his sometimes arbitrary use of color. Often focusing on scenes of everyday life, Bonnard worked comfortably in a variety of media: paintings, posters, book illustrations, as well as stained-glass designs for Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Sean Ulmer, "A Matter of Degree" 11/2001
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