Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947'La Revue Blanche')and Term Paper

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The face of this second presence has been painted in a lighter nuance and his uncombed hair clearly suggests an inferior position on the social ladder. The boy's eyesight is somewhat directed towards the copy of the periodical in the woman's hand and his mouth is open, suggesting his amazement upon gazing at the newspaper.

Finally, the third presence in La Revue Blanche is a large shadow, which has been interpreted for years as an angry, child, another woman or other features. The shadow is painted in the same color as the outfit of the woman and the urchin, blurring the contours even more. Against the faces of the two distinguishable characters and the light colored background, the single white presence in the painting is the copy of the periodical held in the woman's hand. This could imply that the periodical is aimed to shad light in a world of conflict and grey areas. This hypothesis is also supported by the translated name of both periodical and painting, La Revue Blanche meaning the White Review.

The woman in Divan Japonais is also a classy and sophisticated woman, herself belonging to the upper French society. She wares a modern black dress and a large matching hat. Her red hair points out her identity as working in the entertainment industry. The left hand placed on the hip once again reveals a social superiority and even opulence. Her eyes look straight ahead and her pointing of the right hand indicates he is watching and critically analyzing a performance. Jane Avril is wealthy, confident and socially superior.

To her right sits critic Edouard Dujardin, but his presence is less perceived in comparison to Jane's which occupies the mainframe. However his occupation is to critically analyze, his eyes are closed and he does not look ahead. Instead, he places his cane against his chin and listens to the performance, to the voice.

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Jane is a dancer, so she is interested in the choreographic features of the performance, whereas Edouard cares more about the tonality of the voice. "Avril is elegantly composed, chicly dressed, and withdrawn. Her cultivated tastes and interest in art and literature place her comfortably in the company of the intellectual Dujardin. Distractedly touching his cane to chin, he is interrupted in mid-thought by Jane's shapely silhouette. As usual, Lautrec focused on the dramas enacted by the audience, and here perfectly captures the ambivalence of the pair's feigned interest in the performance and their private, conflicting thoughts hovering just below the surface of social refinement" (San Diego Museum of Art).

In the background of Bonnard's painting, the viewer can see a listing of several newspapers and periodicals of the time, organized into what we today call a newsstand. From this alignment of writings, the woman chose the one that best fits her: attractive, truthful and socially superior. The woman's turning her back against those other newspapers represents the superiority of La Revue Blanche over the rest of the periodicals.

The writing style at the base of the painting can also be linked to the woman's social superiority to explain the reasons why the periodical is desirable to the French society. The "L" from La is hanging from the woman's arm, like an umbrella, and the "a" wraps around her leg, all to unite the woman's attractiveness to the attractiveness of the periodical. Also, the "b" and "l" in Blanche definitely separate the woman from the urchin, indicating as such the social gap between the two characters.

The two posters of Pierre Bonnard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec faithfully depict the French society at the time, rich, aristocratic, confident, attractive and simply superior, but tormented by internal fears and individual differences......

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