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Lot Essay
Bonnard's early reputation was partly based on his ability to dynamically evoke an image of modern life. In his review of the Salon des Indépendants of 1893, Claude Roger-Marx noted his talent for 'picking out and rapidily capturing the picturesque in every spectacle'. At the root of his art lay the impetus to isolate and give significance to the passing incidents of everyday life. In the present work, he captures a single moment, possibly from the vantage point of a café interior. Before the window front, slightly obscured by a lace curtain, stands a young elegantly dressed woman looking slightly downwards, unaware of her beholder. Her frontal pose dominates the central composition, as she holds a vivid red umbrella over her right shoulder, while a carriage driver raising his whip is visible behind her left.
Informed by the ability of photography to freeze a moment in time, Bonnard's unconventional perspective emphasises the appearance of spontaneity, reinforcing the sense that this scene is fresh not only in the mind of the artist, but also in that of the viewer. He achieves what Baudelaire expected of modern artists: 'de dégager de la mode ce qu'elle peut contenir de poétique dans l'historique, de tirer l'éternel du transitoire... En un mot, pour que toute modernité soit digne de devenir antiquité, il faut que la beauté mystérieuse que la vie humaine y met involuntairement en ait été extraite' (quoted in exh. cat. Nabis 1888-1900, Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1993, p. 78).
The exhibition of Japanese prints organized by Siegfried Bing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1890 had profound effect on the direction of Bonnard's painting. He was fascinated by the formal simplicity of Japanese graphic art and adopted many of its devices including cropping, close-ups and unconventional perspectives, earning him the moniker le nabi très japonard among his Nabi cohorts. Etude de rue, figure, painted at the height of his Nabi period, shows an undeniable debt to the influence of Japanese graphic art in its linear perspective, decorative treatment of the surface, and use of the silhouette.
Informed by the ability of photography to freeze a moment in time, Bonnard's unconventional perspective emphasises the appearance of spontaneity, reinforcing the sense that this scene is fresh not only in the mind of the artist, but also in that of the viewer. He achieves what Baudelaire expected of modern artists: 'de dégager de la mode ce qu'elle peut contenir de poétique dans l'historique, de tirer l'éternel du transitoire... En un mot, pour que toute modernité soit digne de devenir antiquité, il faut que la beauté mystérieuse que la vie humaine y met involuntairement en ait été extraite' (quoted in exh. cat. Nabis 1888-1900, Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1993, p. 78).
The exhibition of Japanese prints organized by Siegfried Bing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1890 had profound effect on the direction of Bonnard's painting. He was fascinated by the formal simplicity of Japanese graphic art and adopted many of its devices including cropping, close-ups and unconventional perspectives, earning him the moniker le nabi très japonard among his Nabi cohorts. Etude de rue, figure, painted at the height of his Nabi period, shows an undeniable debt to the influence of Japanese graphic art in its linear perspective, decorative treatment of the surface, and use of the silhouette.