Pierre Bonnard
French, 1867-1947

The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939

Oil on canvas
23 x 23 in. (58.4 x 58.4 cm)
Signed, l.r.: "Bonnard"
Gift of Mary and Leigh Block, 1988.141.4

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Chicago, Art Insitute, Chicago Collectors, September 20–October 27, 1963, n.p., as Still Life, 1939.

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block, May 4–June 11, 1967, n.p. (ill.), cat. 28, as Still Life, c. 1939; traveled to Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, September 21–November 2, 1967.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, One Hundred European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block, February 2–April 11, 1968, n.p. (ill.), cat. 29, as Still Life, c. 1939.

Saint Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Bonnard dans sa lumière, July 12–September 28, 1975, pp. 88, cat. 59, opp. 88 (ill.), 118, as Sur la nappe a carreaux, c. 1939.

Tokyo, Art Life, Ltd. (organizer), Pierre Bonnard; traveled to Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art, Shinjuku, July 4–30, 1991, n.p., cat. 54 (ill.), p. 157, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges, c. 1939; traveled to Nara, Sogo Museum of Art, August 7–September 1, 1991; Yokohama, Sogo Museum of Art, September 7–October 10, 1991; and Fukuoka, Art Museum, October 17–November 10, 1991.

Chicago, Arts Club, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, 1916-1991, May 11–June 26, 1992, pp. 83 (ill.), 101, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939.

Art Insitute of Chicago and Asahi Shimbun (organizers), Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, pp. 128, 129 (ill.), cat. 40, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939; traveled to Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, April 20–May 29, 1994; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; and Yokohama Museum of Art, August 6–September 25, 1994.

Publication History

Lhote, André, Bonnard, Seize Peintures, 1939-1943 (Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1944), p. 1 (ill.), as Coin de Table, 1939. [Collection Pétrides]

Lhote, André, Bonnard, Seize Peintures, 1939-1943 (1944; repr., Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1948), p. 6 (ill.).

“Living with the Great,” Vogue 120 (October 1, 1952), p. 121 (ill.), as Fruits on a Checkered Tablecloth.

“Chicago’s Fabulous Collectors Earmark Art for Institute,” Life 33, 17 (October 27, 1952), n.p. (ill.), as Still Life.

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Collectors, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute, 1963), n.p., as Still Life, 1939.

Dauberville, Jean and Henry, Bonnard, catalog raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, 1906-1919, vol. 3 (Paris: Éditions Bernheim-Jeune, 1965), p. 448 (ill.), no. 1575, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges, c. 1939.

Plessix, Francine du, “Collectors: Mary and Leigh Block,” Art in America 54, 5 (September-October 1966), n.p. (ill.), as Still Life of 1939.

National Gallery of Art and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1967), n.p. (ill.), cat. 28, as Still Life, c. 1939.

Museum of Fine Arts, One Hundred European Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts), n.p. (ill.), cat. 29, as Still Life, c. 1939.

Fondation Maeght, Bonnard dans sa lumière, exh. cat. (Paris: Maeght, 1975), pp. 88, cat. 59, opp. 88 (ill.), 118, as Sur la nappe a carreaux, c. 1939.

Terrasse, Michel, Bonnard et le Cannet (Paris: Herscher, 1987), p. 124, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux, c. 1939.

Isetan Bijutsukan, Pierre Bonnard, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Art Life, 1991), n.p., cat. 54 (ill.), p. 157, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux, c. 1939.

Arts Club of Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, 1916-1991, exh. cat. (Chicago: Arts Club, 1991), pp. 83 (ill.), 101, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939.

Barter, Judith A. et al., Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Nagaoka: Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 1994), pp. 128, 129 (ill.), cat. 40, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939.

Watkins, Nicholas, Bonnard (London: Phaidon Press, 1994), pp. 208, 209 (ill.), pl. 159, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges, c. 1939.

Christie’s, London, Impressionist and Modern Art, Evening Sale, sale cat. (Christie’s, February 7, 2005), pp. opp. 53, 53 (ill.), fig.2 , as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges, c. 1939.

Ownership History

Galerie Pétrides, Paris, by 1944 [Lhote 1944]. Jacques Lindon, New York, by August 1948 [copy of Block collection card in curatorial file]; sold to Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, Chicago, August 1948 [collection card cited above]; given to the Art Institute, April 1988.