The collection on
exhibit is his interior paintings of still life, mostly fruit, plates, flowers, table arrangements. Pierre Bonnard's work can be class
ified as late impressionist with hints of modernism. His paintings have almost all the colors - mostly warm, bright- of the rainbow. This is perhaps because of his residence at a villa close to Cannes. The bright Mediterranean sun and the beautiful blue color of the sea would affect anyone living there.
In order to appreciate Bonnard's works a little more, one needs to know his approach to these still life paintings. Bonnard was first making sketches of what he wants to paint and
then he was painting them in color and giving light according to his memory, impression or the way he wants to show, not reproducing his experience looking at these objects. the exhibition included his simple sketches and even his small pocket notebooks displaying some of these drawings.
I did not like his
paintings because I did not see anything special in these. Without the "context": he is Frenc
h, post impressionist, the beginning of modernism etc, I wouldn't pay attention too much. Some of his paintings resemble Matisse, but cannot even com
e close in terms of creativity. Picasso even had very harsh criticism of Bonnard, calling his work "a potpourri of indecision". The New Yorker's critic for the Bonnard exhibition was quite different: Bonnard's pictures stymie mental clarity as effectively as that postprandial extra glass of wine"..
My simple test is this: If a friend of yours show one of these paintings as his, what would you think? Bonnard failed this test for me..
After seeing all these painting
s of food, it was lunch time for me too. I went in to the Museum cafeteria next to the Bonnard exhibition. I couldn't find anything interesting except the sushi. I got a roll of tempura shrimp/crab meat, which turned out to be good. The guy rolled it in 2 minutes as I waited. The prices in the cafeteria were like airport/ferry level.. $4 for a small Pellegrino bottle !! give me a break! I didn't get it..
As I was dipping my sushi rolls in the plastic
soy sauce bath, I watched a young fella called Henry, who is a perhaps 14 months old, blonde cheerful boy.. His mother who is accessorized from Prada and other brands, was trying to make him drink sparkling water from the green Pellegrino bottle. Henry liked it a lot.. Good education: Pierre Bonnard and $4 pellegrino before 2 years old!
After my lunch I headed out but first wanted to peep into the Byzantium section of the Met. I found one room interesting: The patio from the castle of Velez Blanco. Some 2000 marbles carried from Spain to New York to a rich guy's town house. Then it ends up here at the Met.
The poles in the room reminded me of the poles inside Ayasofya, in Istanbul. I post here the two for comparison. The influence of Roman Empire is so widely scattered.
See you next time!
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