The Checkered Tablecloth

Modern Art

1939

Pierre Bonnard
French, 1867–1947

Status: On loan to National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne for Pierre Bonnard
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Pierre Bonnard
Title: The Checkered Tablecloth
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1939
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, l.r.: "Bonnard"
Dimensions: 58.4 × 58.4 cm (23 × 23 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mary and Leigh Block
Reference Number: 1988.141.4
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

André Lhote, Bonnard, Seize Peintures, 1939-1943 (Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1944), 1 (ill.), as Coin de Table, 1939.
André Lhote, Bonnard, Seize Peintures, 1939-1943 (1944; repr., Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1948), 6 (ill.).
“Living with the Great,” Vogue 120 (October 1, 1952), 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.
Francine du Plessix, “The Flawless Eye: Mary and Leigh Block,” in The Collector in America (New York: A Studio Book, 1961), 109 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Collectors, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute, 1963), n.p., as Still Life, 1939.
Jean and Henry Dauberville, Bonnard, catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, 1906-1919, vol. 3 (Paris: Éditions Bernheim-Jeune, 1965), 448 (ill.), no. 1575, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges, c. 1939.
Francine du Plessix, “Collectors: Mary and Leigh Block,” Art in America 54, 5 (September-October 1966),69 (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), 88, cat. 59, 89 (ill.), 118, as Sur la nappe a carreaux, c. 1939.
Michel Terrasse, Bonnard et le Cannet (Paris: Herscher, 1987), 124, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux, c. 1939.
Isetan Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Art Life, 1991), n.p., cat. 54 (ill.), 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), 83 (ill.), 101, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939.
Art Institute, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Nagaoka: Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 1994), 128, 129 (ill.), cat. 40, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939.
Nicholas Watkins, 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.
Tate Modern, Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory, exh. cat. (London: Tate Publishing, 2019), p. 174 (ill.) and p. 222, as The Checkered Tablecloth (Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges), 1939.
Isabelle Chan, Ted Gott, Miranda Wallace, Meg Slater, Georgina Downey, Mark Taylor, and
Véronique Serrano, Pierre Bonnard, exh. cat. (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria; Paris
Musée d’Orsay, 2023), 199 (color ill.), 258.
Sasha Frere–Jones, “Pierre Bonnard,” 4Columns, May, 19, 2023 (color ill.), https://4columns.org/frere-jones-sasha/pierre-bonnard
Sarah Whitfield and Barry Schwabsky, Bonnard: The Experience of Seeing, exh. cat. (New York: Acquavella; New York: Rizzoli, 2023), 136, 137 (color ill.), as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges [The Checkered Tablecloth].
Karen Wilkin, “Seeing Bonnard,” The New Criterion, 41, no. 10 (June 2023): 155 (color ill.), 158.

Paris, Galerie O. Pétridès, 18 Peintures de Bonnard, June 25–July 25, 1943, cat. 12, as Les fruits sur la table.
Chicago, Art Insitute, Chicago Collectors, Sept. 20–Oct. 27, 1963, no cat. no., as Still Life, 1939.
Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, 100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block, May 4–June 11, 1967, cat. 28, as Still Life, c. 1939; Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, Sept. 21–Nov. 2, 1967; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 2–Apr. 11, 1968.
Saint Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Bonnard dans sa lumière, July 12–Sept. 28, 1975, cat. 59, as Sur la nappe a carreaux, c. 1939.
Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art, Shinjuku, Pierre Bonnard, July 4–30, 1991, cat. 5, as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges, c. 1939; Nara, Sogo Museum of Art, August 7–Sept. 1, 1991; Yokohama, Sogo Museum of Art, Sept. 7–Oct. 10, 1991; Fukuoka, Art Museum, Oct. 17–Nov. 10, 1991.
Chicago, Arts Club, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, 1916-1991, May 11–June 26, 1992, no cat. no., as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939.
Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, cat. 40, as The Checkered Tablecloth, 1939, April 20–May 29, 1994; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug. 6–Sept. 25, 1994 (organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and Asahi Shumbun).
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors, Jan. 27–April 19, 2009.
London, Tate Modern, Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory, Jan.23–May 6, 2019, no cat. no., as The Checkered Tablecloth (Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges), 1939; Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, June 6–Sept. 22, 2019.
New York, Acquavella Gallery, Bonnard: The Experience of Seeing, Apr. 12–May 26, 2023, no cat. no., as Corbeille et assiette de fruits sur la nappe à carreaux rouges [The Checkered Tablecloth].
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, Pierre Bonnard, June 9–Oct. 8, 2023, no cat. no.

With Galerie Pétridès, Paris, by June 1943 [Paris 1943]. Jacques Lindon, New York, by Aug. 1948 [this and the following according to Block collection card, in curatorial file]; sold to Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, Chicago, Aug. 1948; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 1988.

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