The Paris Boulevards, c.1890 (lithograph)

Collection Exhibitions : Whistler and his Contemporaries : Object Label : P.4978 In this lithograph, Bonnard has evoked the restless tempo and bustle of Parisian street life at the beginning of the new century. Using free strokes of the lithographic brush in five colours, he pictured a busy crossroads in the heart of the city towards the end of a hot sultry day, where shoppers, workmen, carriage-drivers, mothers and children all mingle in the street. Bonnard’s interest in casual scenes typical of city life was partly stimulated by Hiroshige’s woodcuts of Edo (Tokyo), and was also informed by the urban images of the Impressionist generation of artists, including Whistler.