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Parallèlement

1900
Not on view
Bonnard's response to Verlaine's poems on the parallelism of human nature was unprecedented in its rich expansiveness, his 109 designs suggesting the Rococo splendor of red-chalk drawings by Boucher and Watteau. The book, published by Ambroise Vollard, was the first modern livre de peintre, combining a classically printed text with a painter's freehand allusions. The illustrations are luxuriously unconfined by either strict format or literal attention to the text, and flow with extraordinary immediacy. While one contemporary critic dismissed the work as "uncertain ... stutterings," another declared that never before had illustrations been so perfectly adapted to a book of verse. Indeed, the harmonious relationship of word and image set a new standard in book design.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Parallèlement
  • Illustrator: Illustrated by Pierre Bonnard (French, Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867–1947 Le Cannet)
  • Author: Written by Paul Verlaine (French, Metz 1844–1896 Paris)
  • Publisher: Published by Ambroise Vollard (French, 1866–1939)
  • Printer: Printed by Auguste Clot (French, 1858–1936)
  • Printer: Printed by Tony Beltrand (French, Lyon 1847–1904 Paris)
  • Printer: Printed by L'Imprimerie Nationale, Paris
  • Date: 1900
  • Medium: 109 lithographs printed in rose ink; 9 wood engravings
  • Dimensions: Overall: 11 15/16 x 9 13/16 x 1 3/16 in. (30.3 x 25 x 3 cm)
    sheet: 12 x 9 13/16 in. (30.5 x 25 cm)
  • Classification: Books
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1970
  • Object Number: 1970.713
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Rainy Street at evening time (cancelled plate)
Pierre Bonnard
ca. 1899
Proof of Female Figure, head and shoulders from Daphnis et Chloé, Pierre Bonnard French, Lithograph
Proof of Female Figure, head and shoulders from Daphnis et Chloé
Pierre Bonnard
Ambroise Vollard
1902
La Lithographie Originale en Couleurs
Multiple artists/makers
1898
Trial proof of vignettes for the book "The Life of Saint Monica", Pierre Bonnard French, Lithograph; trial proof
Trial proof of vignettes for the book "The Life of Saint Monica"
Pierre Bonnard
Aimé Jourde
1930
Proof for landscape, from a book of poems by Paul Verlaine titled "Parallèlement", Pierre Bonnard French, Lithograph
Proof for landscape, from a book of poems by Paul Verlaine titled "Parallèlement"
Pierre Bonnard
Auguste Clot
1900

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