{"id":3103,"date":"2025-10-24T08:32:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T12:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.proantic.com\/antiques-art-design-magazine\/?p=3103"},"modified":"2025-11-07T03:59:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T08:59:31","slug":"pierre-bonnard-nabis-prints-democratization-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proantic.com\/antiques-art-design-magazine\/pierre-bonnard-nabis-prints-democratization-of-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierre Bonnard, the Nabis, and the Democratization of Art through Print"},"content":{"rendered":"
This article examines Bonnard\u2019s role, situating “La Petite Blanchisseuse”<\/em> as a hinge between painting and print, and explores how Nabis prints circulated via editions, posters, and the support of visionary dealers to reach new audiences. The BnF\u2019s exhibition “Impressions nabies”<\/em><\/a> in Paris, along with its remarkably rich online companion “L\u2019estampe nabie”<\/em><\/a>, were fundamental resources for this article. We are deeply grateful to institutions that share content of such quality with the world.<\/h6>\n

In 1895\u201396, Pierre Bonnard<\/strong> (1867-1947) created “La Petite Blanchisseuse<\/em><\/strong>” (\u201cThe Little Laundry Girl\u201d), a color lithograph published by Ambroise Vollard as part of his “Album des Peintres-Graveurs”<\/em>. This deceptively simple scene (in the center of the banner above)\u2014a solitary young girl carrying a laundry basket down a flattened, planar street\u2014embodies a crucial shift: the translation of intimate, quotidian life into a reproducible graphic medium.<\/p>\n

Bonnard, like his fellow Nabis, saw in the estampe<\/em> (print) a means to blur the boundary between high art and everyday experience<\/strong>. Through lithographs, woodcuts, illustrations, posters, and magazine graphics, the Nabis strove to fold art into life, offering aesthetic experience to a broader public rather than an elite few.<\/p>\n

Pierre Bonnard and the Graphic Turn of the Nabis<\/h2>\n

From the earliest days of the Nabi circle, Bonnard was drawn to graphic media. He and \u00c9douard Vuillard<\/strong> (1868-1940) contributed to “La Revue Blanche<\/em>” with frontispieces and vignettes, embedding art within a modern literary-public sphere. The name given to Bonnard within the group\u2014\u201cle Nabi tr\u00e8s japonard<\/em>\u201d\u2014signals his intense fascination with Japanese ukiyo-e<\/em><\/strong>, and the ways its flattened planes, bold outlines, and asymmetrical compositions reshaped his pictorial vocabulary.<\/p>\n

When a major exhibition of Japanese prints<\/strong> opened at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts in 1890<\/strong>, Bonnard and his contemporaries absorbed lessons in visual economy, cropping, and decorative flattening. You can see for yourself the variety of the exhibited prints thanks to the catalogue prefaced by Siegfried Bing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Detail<\/a>

Detail of a 1860 Japanese print by Utagawa Hiroshige, The Fan Room of the Gankir\u00f4 Tea House in Yokohama. \u00a9 Histoire de l’Asie<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

In “La Petite Blanchisseuse<\/em>“, the laundress is silhouetted against pale paving, her form delineated sharply, the background abstracted to planes of gray, white, and subtle hues\u2014features often ascribed to Japanese influence.<\/p>\n

Other Nabis\u2014Maurice Denis, Paul S\u00e9rusier, Ker-Xavier Roussel, F\u00e9lix Vallotton, Paul Ranson, Henri-Gabriel Ibels<\/strong>\u2014likewise experimented with lithography<\/strong> or woodcut<\/strong>, turning to printmaking to echo their belief that art should pervade daily life. Vallotton especially became renowned for wood engravings, and Ibels ventured into graphic journalism and poster art. Through prints, the Nabis could bridge the realms of book illustration, periodicals, decorative objects, and accessible visual culture.<\/p>\n

La Petite Blanchisseuse<\/em> by Bonnard: A Microcosm of Nabis Print Ambitions<\/h2>\n

Bonnard\u2019s lithograph of the laundress is modest in size yet ambitious in conception. It was issued in an edition of approximately 100 copies<\/strong> (or fewer in some states) by Ambroise Vollard<\/strong>, part of his “Album des Peintres-Graveurs<\/em>“, which gathered works by diverse artists as a curated portfolio. The print\u2019s technique is a multicolor lithograph<\/strong> on fine China paper, executed with lithographic crayon. Though the subject is humble, the stylization is deliberate: perspective is flattened, forms are compressed, and architectural elements recede behind the figure. The dog at her feet echoes motifs of quiet domestic life, while the narrow street framing accentuates her path.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Little Laundry Girl, a color lithograph by P\u00eferre Bonnard. Numbered 84 and signed in pencil at the lower right. Dated 1896. 34 x 45.5 cm. \u00a9 Galerie A&G<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

What\u2019s striking is that Bonnard chose a working subject\u2014not a myth, not an allegory, but a laboring child in urban service. In doing so, he reflects the Nabis\u2019 interest in bringing the poetic dignity of everyday life into visual discourse<\/strong>. Yet through the medium of editioned print, he simultaneously folds that dignity into reproducibility.<\/p>\n

The image is both unique in aesthetic conception and democratized in circulation<\/strong>. Vollard priced the portfolio at 150 francs\u2014and by reproducing such works, made them accessible (relatively speaking) to connoisseurs and collectors beyond the gallery context. In this dual stance, La Petite Blanchisseuse becomes emblematic of the Nabis\u2019 ambition: art that moves from the studio into the reader\u2019s hand, the wall, or the street<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nabi Prints in the World of Publishing<\/h2>\n

One of the central outlets for Nabi’s graphic art was the domain of publishing\u2014magazines, literary journals, and books. The arts and letters circles of fin-de-si\u00e8cle Paris provided a ready forum. Bonnard and Vuillard\u2019s involvement in “La Revue Blanche<\/strong>“<\/em> is well documented: they produced decorative elements, title pages, and illustrations that merged text and image, giving rise to an art-inflected periodical form.<\/p>\n

\""La<\/a>

The “La Revue Blanche” 1894 poster by Pierre Bonnard was published as a lithograph on vellum paper in September 1896 by “Les Ma\u00eetres de l’Affiche”. \u00a9 1900 by SP<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Beyond “La Revue Blanche<\/em>“, Nabis woodcuts and lithographs appeared in high-end bibliophilic editions, poetry collections, art journals, music theory books, and portfolios. The Nabis explored the entire spectrum: from stand-alone prints and albums to decorative programs and book illustrations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In these printed forms, art ceases to be a remote spectacle and becomes a companion to daily reading. The reproduction potential of the estampe means that a work\u2019s aesthetic value coexists with its function as an adjunct to literature or commentary. Illustrations in books<\/strong> turn pages into miniature galleries; decorative vignettes become motifs of visual identity for publications.<\/p>\n

\"F\u00e9lix<\/a>

F\u00e9lix Vallotton created this ex-libris with owls and books for Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Raisin. Vallotton became a master of black-and-white woodcut prints. \u00a9\u00a0Galerie Sophie Marcellin<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

For many readers, encountering a Bonnard- or Denis-designed motif in a journal served as their most immediate contact with modern art. In this sense, the Nabis democratized art consumption not by renouncing complexity but by channeling subtle artistic interventions through everyday media<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Affiches, Performances, and the Stage<\/h2>\n

The graphic ambitions of the Nabis extended beyond printed text into the realm of spectacle: posters, theater programs, playbills, and visual publicity<\/strong>. At the turn of the century, the poster was a vehicle of mass visual culture. Bonnard himself produced posters (such as for France-Champagne) that combined decorative flair with typographic inventiveness. Others\u2014Henri-Gabriel Ibels<\/strong>, especially\u2014came from the world of journalism and spectacle, producing program covers and posters for cabarets and theatrical events.<\/p>\n

\"Original<\/a>

Original 1897 promotional poster by Pierre Bonnard for the art magazine “L’Estampe et l’Affiche”. 83 x 60 cm with old linen backing. \u00a9 Thierry Neveux<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The connection is deeper: some Nabis were regulars at Parisian cabarets<\/strong> (“Le Chat Noir”, for example), where shadow plays using zinc cutouts borrowed directly from print and silhouette traditions. Bonnard and his friends attended such performances and absorbed their visual logic\u2014flat figures, negative space, dramatic silhouette.<\/p>\n

The theatrical printing of programs and posters created a bridge between the visual arts and performance<\/strong>, turning theatergoers into potential art audiences. In this cross-pollination, a lithograph might become a poster, a program cover, or an illustration, all participating in the visual circulation of Nabi aesthetics.<\/p>\n

Thus, the estampe becomes not just a private image but a civic sign, present in public spaces<\/strong>\u2014from walls to sidewalks to theater doors\u2014effectively integrating art into the civic fabric.<\/p>\n

The Role of Innovative Art Dealers: Ambroise Vollard and the Ecosystem<\/h2>\n

No conversation about the circulation and accessibility of Nabis prints can omit the crucial role of art dealers and print publishers. Among them, Ambroise Vollard<\/strong> stands paramount. He was a pioneer in commissioning original prints by avant-garde painters, organizing portfolios (such as the “Album des Peintres-Graveurs<\/em>“), and marketing their works to a growing bourgeois and international clientele. In the case of “The Little Laundry Girl”, the publisher was explicitly Vollard. Vollard\u2019s model was to promote limited editions, artistic quality, and prestige, thereby making modern prints valuable yet attainable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, Vollard was not the only gallery supporting the avant-garde. Several dealers saw it as their mission to promote modern art, among them:<\/p>\n