Some Scenes of Parisian Life

Pierre Bonnard's Japanese-influenced views of Belle-Époque Paris are some of the most evocative images ever made of the City of Light.

Bonnard drew on the Japanese printmakers, especially Hiroshige, to convey the essence of Paris not through its monuments or vistas, but with scenes of bustling daily life observed from idiosyncratic angles. But unlike the Japanese artists, he worked with a painterly sense of texture and color that remains as astonishing today as when it was first published. This is one of the three hugely original portfolios of etchings brought out in 1899 by the great dealer Ambroise Vollard, and printed by the master craftsman Auguste Clot. The other two are by Édouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis, and all three are being published simultaneously by Pallas Athene.