1945, Pierre Bonnard, Portrait of the Artist in the Dressing Room Mirror -- Phillips Collection (Washington) (special exhibition)
From the exhibition label: Here, Bonnard shows us a mirror, making sure we notice its edges, below and at right. We look into the mirror to find Bonnard there, placing us where he should be. We are faced with philosophical questions posed by the painter's nephew, Charles Terrasse, who wrote in 1943: "What relationship does Bonnard himself establish between the world and his art?" Perhaps the answer is that Bonnard's art is about the world--his world--and it would be impossible to understand, or even to imagine, the one without the other.
1945, Pierre Bonnard, Portrait of the Artist in the Dressing Room Mirror -- Phillips Collection (Washington) (special exhibition)
From the exhibition label: Here, Bonnard shows us a mirror, making sure we notice its edges, below and at right. We look into the mirror to find Bonnard there, placing us where he should be. We are faced with philosophical questions posed by the painter's nephew, Charles Terrasse, who wrote in 1943: "What relationship does Bonnard himself establish between the world and his art?" Perhaps the answer is that Bonnard's art is about the world--his world--and it would be impossible to understand, or even to imagine, the one without the other.