.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
拍品專文
In the early 1920s, Bonnard rented several different villas near Le Cannet. This charming town was situated on a hill overlooking the coastal city of Cannes and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. In 1926, Bonnard purchased a house in Le Cannet known as Le Bosquet (The Grove), where he would spend the rest of his life. The artist’s own charming home, colorful garden and the lush land and seascape surrounding Le Cannet provided the settings for much of his later work.
Occasionally, however, Bonnard took as a subject the glitzy social scene of the Côte d’Azur. Beginning in the nineteenth century, a number of seaside resorts and casinos were built along the French Riviera, catering to royal and aristocratic clientele. Casinos remained popular tourist attractions in the 1920s. By then, however, those cosmopolitan temples of vice, devoted to gambling and drinking, hosted a broader swath of society: glamorous celebrities, international business moguls, as well as thrill-seeking artists, writers and musicians.
The present work, Au casino, depicts the interior of one such pleasure palace. The subjects are engaged not in an exciting game of chance, but rather an ill-fated flirtation. A lovely young blonde woman is clad in a black frock with a white collar, as well as a chic black cloche hat. Her complexion is flushed, as if she had spent the afternoon basking on the beaches of Cannes; indeed, Coco Chanel, designer of the “little black dress,” had recently popularized sunbathing in the French Riviera. In Au Casino, the bronzed young woman appears bored and averts her gaze as a similarly tanned older gentleman leans towards her, attempting to engage her in conversation. Before them on the table is a delicate fluted crystal glass, perhaps containing a scoop of sorbet or a juicy purple plum soaked in brandy—the same boozy dessert depicted in Edouard Manet’s 1877 masterpiece, La Prune (circa 1877, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.).
Bonnard’s Au casino was undoubtedly inspired by the examples of Manet and Edgar Degas. Both of these nineteenth-century artists devoted several canvases to pretty parisiennes in cafés, who appear isolated and disaffected despite their lively surroundings; consider Manet’s sullen barmaid in Un bar aux Folies Bergère (1882, The Courtauld, London) or Degas’s morose absinthe drinker in Dans un café (circa 1875-1876, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Unlike his avant-garde predecessors, however, Bonnard was perhaps less interested in the psychological experience of the modern condition or the depressive effects of alcohol, and more interested in the formal qualities of color and texture. The background of Bonnard’s casino, for example, is alive with delicious patterns. The walls are covered in a mint green floral pattern juxtaposed with tangerine and fuchsia; the carpet is implied with daubs of marigold and emerald. This radiant, varied color palette reflects Bonnard’s youthful experiments with radical coloration as a member of the Nabis brotherhood.
The Galerie Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Paris acquired this canvas from the artist the same year it was painted. By 1937, Au casino had entered the collection of Marcel Kapferer, the head of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, who was a major patron of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. Kapferer’s fantastic collection of modern art, installed in his Parisian hôtel, included works by Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Vuillard and Bonnard.
Occasionally, however, Bonnard took as a subject the glitzy social scene of the Côte d’Azur. Beginning in the nineteenth century, a number of seaside resorts and casinos were built along the French Riviera, catering to royal and aristocratic clientele. Casinos remained popular tourist attractions in the 1920s. By then, however, those cosmopolitan temples of vice, devoted to gambling and drinking, hosted a broader swath of society: glamorous celebrities, international business moguls, as well as thrill-seeking artists, writers and musicians.
The present work, Au casino, depicts the interior of one such pleasure palace. The subjects are engaged not in an exciting game of chance, but rather an ill-fated flirtation. A lovely young blonde woman is clad in a black frock with a white collar, as well as a chic black cloche hat. Her complexion is flushed, as if she had spent the afternoon basking on the beaches of Cannes; indeed, Coco Chanel, designer of the “little black dress,” had recently popularized sunbathing in the French Riviera. In Au Casino, the bronzed young woman appears bored and averts her gaze as a similarly tanned older gentleman leans towards her, attempting to engage her in conversation. Before them on the table is a delicate fluted crystal glass, perhaps containing a scoop of sorbet or a juicy purple plum soaked in brandy—the same boozy dessert depicted in Edouard Manet’s 1877 masterpiece, La Prune (circa 1877, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.).
Bonnard’s Au casino was undoubtedly inspired by the examples of Manet and Edgar Degas. Both of these nineteenth-century artists devoted several canvases to pretty parisiennes in cafés, who appear isolated and disaffected despite their lively surroundings; consider Manet’s sullen barmaid in Un bar aux Folies Bergère (1882, The Courtauld, London) or Degas’s morose absinthe drinker in Dans un café (circa 1875-1876, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Unlike his avant-garde predecessors, however, Bonnard was perhaps less interested in the psychological experience of the modern condition or the depressive effects of alcohol, and more interested in the formal qualities of color and texture. The background of Bonnard’s casino, for example, is alive with delicious patterns. The walls are covered in a mint green floral pattern juxtaposed with tangerine and fuchsia; the carpet is implied with daubs of marigold and emerald. This radiant, varied color palette reflects Bonnard’s youthful experiments with radical coloration as a member of the Nabis brotherhood.
The Galerie Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Paris acquired this canvas from the artist the same year it was painted. By 1937, Au casino had entered the collection of Marcel Kapferer, the head of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, who was a major patron of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. Kapferer’s fantastic collection of modern art, installed in his Parisian hôtel, included works by Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Vuillard and Bonnard.