Paysage – orée d’un bois 1935

Léon Bonnat created this landscape drawing using graphite or charcoal, and maybe a bit of wash. You can really see the artist working through it. The marks aren’t concealed. It’s all about the process of making, the layering of darks and lights. Look at the lower left area where you can see a few strokes of much darker pigment, probably charcoal, pulling the eye into the depths of the foliage. It’s not overworked; the artist isn't trying to trick us into thinking it’s a photo. He's letting us in on the secret that this is just marks on paper. Bonnard was a famous portrait painter, and this landscape has that same feeling of just trying to capture something fleeting, a feeling, an impression of light on the edge of the woods. It has something in common with the work of Corot, who was also interested in a kind of tonal realism, a simple and direct approach to nature. Art’s an ongoing conversation, right? More questions than answers.