Bonnard: The Work of Art: Suspending Time

by Yves-Alain Bois, Georges Roque, Sarah Whitfield

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) is among the great artists whose work undoubtedly marked the 20th century. This book, which accompanies a major retrospective of the artist's work at the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, shows how Bonnard's contribution to a 'modern' conception of painting makes him a decisive figure in the history of 20th-century art.

Starting from the turn of the century, and from the change that moment represented in Bonnard's work, the book looks at some of the recurrent themes in the artist's work - the nude, landscapes, terraces and windows, and self-portraits - and reveals an ongoing re-invention of his vision, drawing from his Nabi experience and leading the painter to the very brink of abstraction.

Including essays by a cast of distinguished writers, new interviews with those who knew Bonnard or whose work has been influenced by him, unpublished archival photographs and diary drawings, and full-colour reproductions of 100 paintings, this book provides a major reassessment of the artist's contribution to the history of modernism, as well as a beautifully produced record of his life and work.

368 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2006

About the author

Yve-Alain Bois (b.1952 in Constantine, Algeria) is Professor of Art History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bois received his PhD. from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (1977) and his M.A. from the École Pratique des Hautes Études, also in Paris (1973); both degrees were supervised by Roland Barthes.

Having served as Attaché de recherche (1977–81) and Chargé de recherche (1981–83) at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bois taught at Johns Hopkins University until 1991. Following this, he was The Joseph Pulitzer Professor of Modern Art (1991-2005) as well as Chair of the Department of History of Art and Architecture (2002-2005) at Harvard University.

An expert on 20th century European and American art, Bois has (co-)curated the exhibitions “Ellsworth Kelly: Early Drawings” (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge; High Museum, Atlanta; Arts Institute, Chicago; Kunstmuseum, Winterthur, among others; 1999-2000), “Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry” (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth/Texas 1999), “Picasso Harlequin 1917–1937” (Rome 2008), “Piet Mondrian, A Retrospective” (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; 1994-95) as well as “L'informe, mode d'emploi” (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1996).

Bois co-founded and co-directed Éditions Macula/Macula magazine in 1976 (until 1979) and has been co-editor of the journal October since 1991; he is also a contributing editor to Artforum.

Among his publications are Matisse in the Barnes Foundation (Thames & Hudson, 2016); Ellsworth Kelly: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Reliefs, and Sculpture: Vol. 1, 1940–1953 (Cahiers d'art, 2015); Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism (co-authored with Benjamin Buchloh, Hal Foster, and Rosalind Krauss, Thames & Hudson, 2004), Formless: A User’s Guide (co-authored with Rosalind Krauss, Zone/MIT, 1997); Matisse and Picasso (Flammarion, 1998), and Painting as Model (MIT Press 1990).

Presented with the prestigious insignia of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres /Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture in 2002, as well as with the Alfred H. Barr Award (2001) and Prix Pierre Daix (2015), Bois was conferred the title of Chun-tu Hsueh Chair Professor at Nanjing University, China, in 2018.