Estate of the artist

Private Collection, United States

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Jean & Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1920-1939, Paris, 1973, no. 1535, illustrated p. 419

Very good condition. The canvas is lined. The paint layer is well-preserved. Under UV, no evidence of retouching.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Pêches dans une assiette sur une chaise demonstrates Bonnard's talent for reconfiguring the natural world at its finest. The flattened pictorial surface of the wicker chair and the tilted perspective infuse this typically intimiste scene with a modernist spirit strongly reminiscent of Matisse’s painting. Set slightly above-center, the abundant offering of peaches in a shallow bowl dominates the composition. Bonnard's defiance of the traditional approach to depth and perspective set his compositions apart from those of his contemporaries and have since established him as a leader in this genre during the first half of the 20th century. 

Bonnard was enthralled by light and color, and this fascination received a fresh impetus during the artist’s stay on the Côte d’Azur.  As James Elliott observed: "Bonnard was essentially a colorist. He devoted his main creative energies to wedding his sensations of color from nature to those from paint itself – sensations which he said thrilled and even bewildered him. Perceiving color with a highly developed sensitivity, he discovered new and unfamiliar effects from which he selected carefully, yet broadly and audaciously. […] Whether in narrow range or multitudinous variety, the colors move across the surface of his paintings in constantly shifting interplay, lending an extraordinary fascination to common subjects. Familiar sights – the pervading greenness of a landscape, the intensification of color in objects on a lightly overcast day – are given vivid life" (J. Elliott, in Bonnard and His Environment (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1✃964, p. 25).