Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947\'La Revue Blanche\')and

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947'La revue blanche')and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. (French, 1864-1901). Divan Japonais (Japanese Settee). (1893). compare

Pierre Bonnard's La Revue Blanche and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's Divan Japonais

French painter Pierre Bonnard lived between 1867 and 1947 and was a major representative of the avant-garde Post-Impressionist Parisian School of paintings. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was also a remarkable French painter who lived between 1964 and 1901 and who made an emblem onto the Post-Impressionist movement as well. Both artists were born into aristocratic families and their works were inspired by the upbringing and the nature of the environment surrounding them. The works of the two have often been compared and the La Revue Blanche is said to be similar to Toulouse-Lautrec's Moulin Rouge posters.

La Revue Blanche was painted in 1896 and its aim was to be a poster that would help promote a periodical of the times. The work contains several features, such as unmodulated color, depictions of flattened spaces or decorative styles, which would later on be associated with art deco. The background of the 31 ae by 24 3/8 inches painting has mostly been created using light brown nuances and its flat texture has been inspired by the Japanese woodblock prints. The foreground has been painted in shades of medium to dark grey. The letters at the base are written in white paint and have the characteristic of standing out.

Divan Japonais, painted in 1893, was also from the Japanese arts and like La Revue Blanche, it depicts matters of social interest. "The poster represents a complete summary of Lautrec's artistic interests and sources. Compositionally it is an exact opposite of Edgar Degas' landmark painting the Orchestra of the Opera (Musee d'Orsay, Paris). Degas' influence is implicit throughout Lautrec's art, but Divan Japonais is a direct borrowing. Stylistically, however, Lautrec looked to sources in Japanese prints: the use of diagonals, compartmentalized colour, curvilinear silhouettes, and the flattening of space" (San Diego Museum of Art). The Divan Japonais is more colourful that Bonnard's painting and uses various shades of light brown to even black, but also more vivid paints of colour in red (the woman's hair and lips).

Bonnard's poster contains the depiction of three different characters: a woman, an urchin and a grey shadow on the background. Lautrec's painting only presents two characters, but these are clearly contoured and have an established identity: dancer Jane Avril and critic Edouard Dujardin. However, the presence of a third character is revealed, as the two are watching the performance of singer Yvette Guilber; all three characters are inspired by real life people and all three of them were actually friends of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

In La Revue Blanche, the standing woman in the main frame is wearing a fashionable black dress and a flowery large hat, creating the image of social opulence. The hat's contour is blur, but the flowers are well created - the usage of the same color for the flowers as for the periodical could symbolize the purity and truth held by both flower and newspaper. She holds a copy of the newspaper in her hand, symbolizing as such the modern reader and buyer of the periodical. The standing woman creates the image of a strong or at least highly positioned individual on the social ladder. She is chic and modern and this feature is foremost underlined by her right hand placed on the hip. Then, her eyes and posture are gazing, mysterious sand alluring. Her eyes analytically look at something outside the painting, intriguing the viewer even more.

To the left of the woman in Bonnard's painting, there is what appears to be a street urchin with a scarecrow face, dressed in black and with a black and white scarf around his neck. He holds his right thumb up and points to the copy of the periodical held by the woman. The contours of these two characters are not clearly delimited, creating as such the image of an abstract painting. The face of this second presence has been painted in a lighter nuance and his uncombed hair clearly suggests an inferior position on the social ladder. The boy's eyesight is somewhat directed towards the copy of the periodical in the woman's hand and his mouth is open, suggesting his amazement upon gazing at the newspaper.

Finally, the third presence in La Revue Blanche is a large shadow, which has been interpreted for years as an angry, child, another woman or other features. The shadow is painted in the same color as the outfit of the woman and the urchin, blurring the contours even more. Against the faces of the two distinguishable characters and the light colored background, the single white presence in the painting is the copy of the periodical held in the woman's hand. This could imply that the periodical is aimed to shad light in a world of conflict and grey areas. This hypothesis is also supported by the translated name of both periodical and painting, La Revue Blanche meaning the White Review.

The woman in Divan Japonais is also a classy and sophisticated woman, herself belonging to the upper French society. She wares a modern black dress and a large matching hat. Her red hair points out her identity as working in the entertainment industry. The left hand placed on the hip once again reveals a social superiority and even opulence. Her eyes look straight ahead and her pointing of the right hand indicates he is watching and critically analyzing a performance. Jane Avril is wealthy, confident and socially superior.

To her right sits critic Edouard Dujardin, but his presence is less perceived in comparison to Jane's which occupies the mainframe. However his occupation is to critically analyze, his eyes are closed and he does not look ahead. Instead, he places his cane against his chin and listens to the performance, to the voice. Jane is a dancer, so she is interested in the choreographic features of the performance, whereas Edouard cares more about the tonality of the voice. "Avril is elegantly composed, chicly dressed, and withdrawn. Her cultivated tastes and interest in art and literature place her comfortably in the company of the intellectual Dujardin. Distractedly touching his cane to chin, he is interrupted in mid-thought by Jane's shapely silhouette. As usual, Lautrec focused on the dramas enacted by the audience, and here perfectly captures the ambivalence of the pair's feigned interest in the performance and their private, conflicting thoughts hovering just below the surface of social refinement" (San Diego Museum of Art).