Research on Pierre Bonnard:Nude in bathtub
Todays task in the digital arts class was to research the painting called "nude in bathtub". The artist who created this masterpiece was Pierre Bonnard a French painter, illustrator, and printmaker who was born in 1867 and died in 1947. He was famous for "the stylised decorative qualities" of his paintings and his bold use of colour. He was a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis. His early work was influenced strongly by Paul Gauguin work but also the prints of Hokusai and other Japanese artists. During the transition from impressionism to modernism he held a leading part. His work included landscapes, urban scenes, portraits and intimate domestic scenes, where the backgrounds, colours and painting style usually took precedence over the subject(1).
Pierre Bonnard made 4 paintings of his partner named Marthe de Méligny. This artwork which is one of the 4 portrayes her lying in the bath. It indicates the ancient reclining nude setup using its oft-used “secret” peek of women preparing for the day, something new and strange(2).The bather is Bonnard’s lifelong companion and model where she is viewed from above and while her face is not visible her body is. It is blurred in the movement of the blue/mauve/green water. The white tub becomes the receptacle for her body where she lies like Ophelia – a poetic form floating but vibrantly alive. There is something almost hallucinatory about the image, as if Marthe was seconds away from metamorphosing into pure colour. The work is less erotic and more mature. He used a lyrical style that intensifies texture, pattern and colour and expresses his emotions and memories. This was not meant as a faithful portrait of Marthe but it is used as a metaphor from a memory instead of reality. Marthe was ill and in her 60s, so this dreamy image is in fact the artist’s memory of perception, desire and affection(3).
Bonnard's movement included “submission to the picture” which committed to experimentation. He acted silently without manifestos and proclamations(4).
Silent movement is in many cases is used for works of sound art that do not sound at all. Such pieces of silent sound art may come in the form of instructions which are explicit or implicit or situations that transform the audience into an intentional participant in particular sonic conditions. They lead to an awareness of one's own auditive perspective and performativity as a listener (5).
All you have done here is copy and paste text from other sources. you have not attempted to discuss in your own words or really thought about what you have learnt from this and how it will inform your own work - please look at examples on my blog again thank you
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you have argued why this artwork fits with your final project. However, I would suggest to do the research more in your own words and comments and be more specific about the painting.
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