Birds Resting on Bushes, Léon Bonvin
Watercolor with gouache and ink over graphite.
In the Walters Art Museum. Click “Explore Object” in upper left for high-res version.
Eye Candy for Today: Bonvin Birds
Birds Resting on Bushes, Léon Bonvin
Comments
4 responses to “Eye Candy for Today: Bonvin Birds”
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His work is as lovely and delicate as his story is tragic and sad.
I was not previously familiar with Léon Bonvin. Thank you for correcting that.
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This is sublime… thank you, Charley!
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wow..it’s beautiful!! what a combination of materials…creates a stunning effect!!
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Excerpt from the blue lantern blogspot:
On January 29, 1866, Bonvin, desperate to earn money to support himself and his wife, carried a portfolio of his work to Paris where a short-sighted art dealer refused to place his pictures, telling the artist that they are “too dark, not gay enough.” I recoil from the thought of despair that accompanied him on his trek toward home. What he thought can only be guessed at, but his conclusions were grim.
The next day Bonvin hanged himself from a tree in the forest of Meudon, a place that overlooked the plains of Issy that the artist depicted with such affection in his watercolors. The little family inn, Bonvin’s wife, and the dog and the cat were all left waiting in Vaugirard for his return.
In the charcoal of his little dog, Bonvin’s chiaroscuro approaches abstraction, foreshadowing works by Seurat, like the dog guarding the baby carriage.
Interesting details about Léon Bonvin, who could not afford oil paints.
