Cover of the Album d'estampes originales de la Galerie Vollard

A prominent French painter, sculptor, and printmaker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Pierre Bonnard demonstrated a deep commitment to the graphic arts as evidenced in his extensive oeuvre of editioned prints, illustrated books, and other publications. Among these varied works is this delightful lithographic album wrapper featuring a domestic interior with an assortment of fine art prints casually spread across a wooden table. Though he included no people, Bonnard activates the scene by including a playful house cat who strolls across the table and paws at a crumbled piece of paper. When folded vertically at the center, the oversize lithograph served as the outer wrapper for Ambroise Vollard’s second Album d'estampes originales (Album of Original Prints). Bonnard positioned the publication’s title and date on the right-hand side of the composition, thus assuring it would be centered when the sheet was folded. Vollard was the foremost publisher of prints and illustrated books in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Paris. Along with Bonnard, he worked regularly with such prominent artists as Edouard Vuillard, Georges Rouault, and Pablo Picasso.