This book, which accompanies a major retrospective of the artist's work at the Musee d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, shows how Bonnard's contribution to a 'modern' conception of painting makes him a decisive figure in the history of twentieth-century art.

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) is among the grea artists whose work undoubtedly marked the twentieth century. This book, which accompanies a major retrospective of the artist's work at the Musee d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, shows how Bonnard's contribution to a 'modern' conception of painting makes him a decisive figure in the history of twentieth-century art.Starting from the turn of the century, and from the change that moment represented in Bonnard's work, the book looks at some of the recurrent themes in the artist's work - the nude, landscapes,terraces and windows, and self-portraits - and reveals an ongoing re-invention of his vision, drawing from his Nabi experience and leading the painter to the very brink of abstraction.Including essays by a cast of distinguished writers,new interviews with those who knew Bonnard or whose work has been influenced by him,unpublished archival photographs and diary drawings, and full-colour reproductions of 100 paintings, this book provides a major reassessment of the artist's contribution to the history of modernism, as well as a beautifully produced record of his life and work.

Suzanne Page

 Introduction the work of art, suspending time

ESSAYS

 Yve-Alain Bois

 Bonnard's "passivity"

 Sarah Whitfleld

 A question of belonging

 Georges Roque

 Surface, its colour and its "laws"

 Jacqueline Munck

 Bonnard, by default

 Franois Michaud

 "Drawing with a light hand, shapes of shadows"

 Michel Frizot

 Pierre's stupefaction: the window of photography

CATALOGUE

RECOLLECTIONS, INTERVIEWS

 Henri Cartier-Bresson

 Dina Vierny

 Karel Appel

 John M. Armleder

 Peter Doig

 Giuseppe Penone

MORE ABOUT

 Misia Sert's dining room, by Gloria Groom

 The Morozov commission, by Albert Kostenevich

 Bonnard's "Bathers", by Linda Nochlin

 Bonnard and La Revue blanche, by Yves Kobry

 Bonnard "du cete de chez Proust", by Michel Makarius

 Deferrals/Endings, by Deepak Ananth

CHRONOLOGY

 Pierre Bonnard with his Swiss friends, Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser,

 by Margrit Hahnloser-lngold

 Duncan Phillips and Pierre Bonnard

 by Elizabeth Hutton Turner

APPEN DICES

 Technical notes

 Selective bibliography

 Major exhibitions