PIERRE BONNARD (1867-1947) LES PEINTRES GRAVEURS. 1896. 25x18 1/2 inches, 64x47 cm. A. Clot. Condition B-: repaired tears, creases and abrasions in margins and image; overall darkening of image. Matted and framed. This poster advertises an exhibition that Ambroise Vollard organized to launch his first portfolio, L'Album des Peintres Graveurs, which established Vollard as one of the finest, most influential printers in Paris. It included twenty-two prints by twenty-two different artists, including all of the Nabis. Depicting an intimate scene of a woman seated alone and admiring a print, Bonnard only uses three colors. Masterfully using the blank paper, he plays a sophisticated game with the solid color masses of the background. The typography is also most ingeniously handled, being presented in a black and white fashion that would not be seen again until the avant-garde posters of the 1930s. The poster was printed by Clot, whom Philip Denis Cates, in The Color Revolution, refers to as the foremost lithographic printer of the color revolution. DFP-II 78, Modern Poster p. 8, Gold 184.
