Maison dans la Cour 1899

Pierre Bonnard made this print called 'Maison dans la Cour', or 'House in the Courtyard', using lithography, a printmaking technique that was becoming increasingly popular at the time. Bonnard was a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde artists, Les Nabis, in France. Looking at this image through a window, the everyday scene of ordinary people occupying the architecture around them, reminds us of the urban transformations taking place in France at the time. Paris was becoming a modern city, and as city life changed, so did social classes, economies and cultural values. 'Maison dans la Cour', asks us to consider how artists make sense of these rapid changes and it encourages a critical dialogue with French society, through these observational moments. The work's setting, the techniques used, and the artist's affiliation with Les Nabis, all encourage the historian to research the printmaking industry, the urban development of Paris, and the rise of avant-garde artistic groups.