Pierre Bonnard

Femme debout dans sa Baignoire Roger-Marx 81; Bouvet 94 lithograph, 1925, on fine chine volant paper, the 3rd state (of 4, annotated "3e" lower left), a superb impression, signed in pencil by the artist, and numbered "2/25", with full margins, one of only a few proofs of this state on this paper for the deluxe album edition of 25*, with Frapier's Galerie des Peintres-Graveurs blindstamp (Lugt 1057b) lower right, very slight unobtrusive toning from the imprint of the stone, marginal hinges on the reverse, a soft handling crease along the lower left and right corners, otherwise in excellent overall condition L. 335x224 mm., S. 485x325 mm.

Commissioned by Edmond Frapier for the album, Maîtres et petits maîtres d'aujourd'hui, Bonnard created this important lithograph, one of the most successful, as a version of his picture, "Femme dans sa Baignoire" (see Dauberville, N° 1275).

Bonnard having recently moved to the south of France with Marthe, at Le Cannet, he continued to explore the theme of the nude in the bath, resorting to a candid snapshot scenography that he had developed from years of practicing photography (see Bonnard Photographe, Les Dossiers du Musée d'Orsay 16, Paris, 1987).

* Cf. the impression in the 5 April 2001 sale at PIASA:

http://www.piasa.auction.fr/FR/vente_peintures_arts_graphiques/v2940_piasa/l260032_pierre_bonnard.html