Bonnard Poster Pierre Bonnard\'s LA

Bonnard Poster

PIERRE BONNARD'S LA REVUE BLANCHE

La Revue Blanche (1894) by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), a French artist primarily associated with the avant-garde movement and artists that were part of the Post-Impressionist Parisian school of painting, was designed as a promotional poster for the monthly Paris-based journal named in the title which in October of 1891 was published "under the direction of the brothers Thadee, Alexandre and Alfred Natansona" and was seen by middle and upper-class Parisians as "one of many French journals devoted to the arts and letters that proliferated" in the late 19th century in France. 1 Exactly what Bonnard is trying to say with this poster has much to do with advertisement. For example, this poster might possibly mean that the readers of "La Revue Blanche" (the White Review) should be cautious of other periodicals trying to imitate it, or that other journals like it are not as good and will never achieve as much success. La Revue Blanche also represents the bustling city of Paris in 1893, full of intelligent, talented and upper-class individuals with new ideas and a taste for modernism.

As a work of French art, La Revue Blanche bears many of the same design hallmarks like "unmodulated color, a playful depiction of flattened space and a decorative handling of silhouettes and textures" 2 which would later come to characterize most popular Art Deco works of the early 20th century and is often associated with the Moulin Rouge posters created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. As an artist, Bonnard's primary aesthetic influence was Japanese woodblock prints which accounts for the poster's flat textures and perspective. It measures about 31 3/4 by 24 3/8 inches and the main color used in the background is mostly light brown. The foreground is mostly medium to dark gray, except for the letters in white which stand out prominently near the base. This poster is known as a lithographic print, made by drawing a design in greasy ink or crayon on a piece of limestone which is then "moistened with water which is accepted in areas not covered by the crayon. An oily ink, applied with a roller, adheres only to the drawing and is repelled by the wet parts of the stone. The print is then made by pressing paper against the inked drawing." 3

Artistically, La Revue Blanche contains three different figures. First, on the left side, a standing woman, possibly a symbol of the type of French intellectual that buys the journal, is wearing a fashionable black dress and a large flowery hat which gives the viewer a sense of social opulence. The second figure, perhaps some kind of "street urchin" with a scarecrow face occupies the lower right side and points with his thumb toward a copy of the journal held in the woman's right hand. This "urchin" is also wearing a boorish-looking, checkered scarf around his neck. Both of these figures are not shown with full bodies which makes the poster somewhat abstract. 4 in the background, there is what appears to be a huge gray shadow which some viewers of this poster have seen as the "rear view of a man wearing a top hat with collar upraised" while he looks at a wall of flyers or advertisements for other French magazines like "La Revue Blanche." 5 it is pretty easy to see the top of the black hat, but the gray area might be his cape flapping in the breeze along the busy Paris street. The last thing about this poster is the white lettering which runs across the bottom. These letters appear to have been done like handwriting because of their wobbly shape. Overall, this poster is two-dimensional, very flat and decorative and Bonnard is definitely referring here to "Japanese woodcut prints where flat areas of plain color and pattern deny the illusion of space." 6 Also, this poster tells us of the gap between the wealthy, like the woman, and those that live in poverty or outside of accepted social circles like the boy or "urchin" with his thumb pointing to the copy of the journal.

Socially, La Revue Blanche creates the idea that this journal is the best in the city of Paris which is supported by the woman holding a copy of the journal. This woman with her left hand on her hip seems to occupy a high position in French society because her eyes and the shape of her nose are extremely alluring, not to mention her mysterious gaze aimed at the observer which might indicate her superiority. Furthermore, her hat with small white flowers is very well-done and detailed and might indicate that she is a lady of high moral values.