Accession Number
2000/2.179

Title
In the Bath

Artist(s)
Pierre Bonnard

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1942

Medium & Support
Lithograph printed in nine colors on thick smooth light cream wove paper

Dimensions
9 7/8 x 12 7/8 in. (25 x 32.7 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Barrows

Label copy
This scene of a woman in her bath is, in all likelihood, an image of Bonnard’s wife, Marthe, who was also his favorite model. Marthe was tubercular and asthmatic as well as agoraphobic, and she bathed compulsively. Her death in 1942, the same year as this lithograph, was devastating for Bonnard.
Bonnard was a painter of light and of the sensual beauty of the female body. His freedom and vividness of handling pigment complemented his sometimes arbitrary use of color. Often focusing on scenes of everyday life, Bonnard worked comfortably in a variety of media: paintings, posters, book illustrations, as well as stained-glass designs for Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Sean Ulmer, "A Matter of Degree" 11/2001

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
abstraction
bathers
bathtub
nudes
seated
tile