February 1967: "Bonnard and the Artists of Montmartre” is the subject of an exhibition of 150 original prints and rare posters on view at The Brooklyn Museum from February 14 to June 11, 1967. Fifty French and foreign artists who lived and worked in Montmartre during the period 1890 to 1915 are represented in the exhibit.
Since the 18th century, when it was a small village surrounded by vineyards and windmills, Montmartre has served as the milieu for artists, perhaps reaching its peak of enchantment at the turn of the century. Commissioned and encouraged by Paris publishers and entrepreneurs, artists began to create portfolios of fine prints depicting the atmosphere of their beloved district. Particularly brilliant graphics were produced by Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Bonnard, a renowned transitional figure in modern French art, brought to lithography a painter’s sense of color. He and his friend Vuillard, with whom he shared a studio, captured the sunny hours and activities of flower vendors, waifs, cabmen, and nursemaids and their small charges. Toulouse-Lautrec, on the other hand, chronicled with exuberance the night life of the district - the cabarets, the music halls and the maisons de joie.
Among the other artists in the exhibition are Braque, Cassatt, Derain, Dufy, Gauguin, Marin, Matisse, Picasso, Redon, Renoir, Vlaminck and Whistler.
An illustrated catalogue with a brief survey and chronology of the period is available for 25 cents.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1953 - 1970. 1967, 002.
