The Engraver

PIERRE BONNARD

French, 1867 – 1947

The Engraver (Le Graveur), 20th century

Etching on yellow-toned paper

Public domain

Purchase

1973.004

While this work is attributed to Pierre Bonnard here, it has also been credited to his colleague Edouard Vuillard. Bonnard and Vuillard worked closely together as members of Les Nabis and developed similar styles. Both Bonnard and Vuillard were known for their paintings combining vibrant colors and design, but they were also important printmakers. This etching depicts an artist working by the light of a window, echoing the artists’ shared interest in the everyday. The elegance of line and textured tonalities of this etching draw attention to both the technique and subject matter.

Emma Capaldi '23

Who was Pierre Bonnard?

Pierre Bonnard was born in 1867 just outside of Paris. After attending a prestigious secondary school, Bonnard enrolled in law school due to his father’s strong persuasion and despite his true passion for art. His desire to pursue a career as an artist overcame any thoughts of studying law resulting in Bonnard enrolling in the Academie Jullian. In 1888, he joined with other like-minded artists to form the dissident group, Les Nabis (or Prophets) as a response to their dissatisfaction with the representational painting methods taught at Academie Jullian. Their members included Bonnard himself, Eduoard Vuillard, and Maurice Denis, among others. Their work and ideology emphasized the continuities between art and design by celebrating pattern and ornament, challenging the division between fine arts and crafts, as well as embracing decoration as a paintings main function. They participated in various group exhibitions in addition to their own solo exhibitions remaining loosely affiliated with one another until 1899.

Pierre Bonnard and Eduoard Vuillard

Brought together at Academie Julian, Pierre Bonnard and Eduoard Vuillard developed a close friendship that lasted the duration of their lives. Unlike Bonnard’s other relationships with fellow artists which were not much more than mutual respect for one another, his relationship with Vuillard was one of love and admiration. While they had similar aspirations as the other Nabis members, they had contradictory ideas and were therefore the least affected by Gauguin’s symbolist influence as demonstrated by the style of their work. They were termed as “Intimists” because of their inclination to produce intimate domestic scenes. They developed such similar styles that The Engraver is in fact sometimes attributed to Vuillard instead.

To view a work by Edouard Vuillard that displays his similar style, click here

Bonnard's Style

Bonnard was enthralled by capturing scenes of daily life, elements repeated so frequently they are barely taken notice of. As Gustave Geffroy claimed, Bonnard “captures these casual gestures of the streets, these fleeting expressions born and vanished in an instant”(Rewald, 30). Despite his involvement with Les Nabis and their Symbolist milieu, Bonnard held a position of stubborn individualism throughout his life. He refused to be tied to a set of prescribed theories that could restrict his freedom. He very much created works according to his own agenda, avoiding the metaphor and overtly symbolic images of his colleagues continuing to select ordinary and everyday subject matters. He was inclined to experimentation when it came to approaching works working mostly on instinct rather than intellect. In his paintings he used impassioned brush strokes and vibrant colors to create bold works. In his prints and pencil drawings he uses strokes, dashes, and dots to suggest a variety of materials and light effects. Although he is best known for his paintings, he was also a prolific printmaker as we see in this etching, The Engraver.

What is an Etching?

Etching is a demanding technique which uses acid to incise lines and areas on a metal plate creating a design that can then be printed. Within our exhibition we highlight this process displaying each step of the process in the case located in the back gallery. The process begins with the preparation of the metal plate in which the plate is polished and covered with a layer of wax called the ground. Next, the artist uses an etching needle to scratch their image into the ground exposing the metal underneath. The plate is then dipped in acid where the acid eats at the exposed metal creating recesses to hold ink. This step of dipping the plate into acid can be repeated as different amounts of acid exposure can help to create tonalities in the print. After the desired state has been achieved, the ground is removed with a solvent and the plate is ready for printing. Ink is spread across the entire plate, any excess is removed and then the plate is placed on the bed of a rolling printing press ink side up and is covered with a damp sheet of paper followed by printing blankets. The plate is then drawn through the press printing the image onto the paper.

Etchings provided Bonnard with a challenge as a drypoint needle was not as easy to work with in comparison to pencil and lithograph crayons. This lack of ease limited his ability to create tonal values resulting in the dominance of linear expressions in his etchings as demonstrated by The Engraver. Yet despite the challenge etchings pose, he was able to achieve great success with his subtle compositions driven by elegant use of line. This etching displayed in our exhibition is characteristically Bonnard with its interior setting and minimalist style. The Engraver, like many of his works, has a certain improvised and spontaneous quality to it with nervous webs of lines and hatchings, but it also demonstrates precise observation. Bonnard has provided the viewer with a behind the scenes look of the artistic process in both his chosen subject matter as well as his refined use of line and textured tonalities that reveal his technique. This work with its representation of an artist at work in a simple, calm domestic setting quite perfectly encapsulates making art as a form of well-being.

Emma Capaldi '23

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