Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)
Lot 161 Property from the Estate of Dr. George S. Heyer, Jr.

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)

O, Ombre (Dessin pour Un alphabet sentimental)

Closed16 May 2018

Price Realised

USD 35,000

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Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)
O, Ombre (Dessin pour Un alphabet sentimental)
stamped with monogram (Lugt 3888; lower right)
brush and India ink and inkwash and pencil on paper
7 ¼ x 7 7/8 in. (18.6 x 20.1 cm.)
Executed in 1893

Estate of the artist.
Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London.
E.V. Thaw & Co., New York.
D'Offay Couper Gallery, London.
Acquired from the above by the late owner, December 1969.

Specialist note

Guy-Patrice and Floriane Dauberville have confirmed the authenticity of this work.
The present lot is a drawing for the letter O in the artist's uncompleted alphabet book and depicts the silhouettes of Andrée and Charles Terrasse kissing behind a screen. According to Bonnard, "I have found a patron...who has asked me to do an album for children. I'm going to make an 'Alphabet sentimental.' To each letter will correspond a word beginning with that letter, signifying a passion or a state of soul, and which I will render by familiar little scenes in which tehre will be babies, animals landscapes, etc. It's a question of making beings and things speak" (quoted in op. cit.).