Written in French.
In 1890, Andrée, sister of the painter Pierre Bonnard, married the composer Claude Terrasse. "Le Petit Solfège", written by Terrasse and illustrated by Bonnard, was intended to teach music to children in a simple and playful way. In a letter to Vuillard, Bonnard declares his intention: "I must think of the decorations on missals of past times, or of the Japanese putting art in encyclopaedic dictionaries, to give me courage.
Bonnard's decorative art works wonders in the pages of the" Petit Solfège illustré". The 30 illustrations, playing with Terrasse's rather dry text and the notated music, reveal a facetious and mischievous Bonnard. Bonnard thus offers us a solfeggio manual full of delicacy, whose verve will still delight readers, young and old, today.
Published in 1893, the "Petit Solfège illustré" was Bonnard's first illustrated book, and he went on to publish nearly thirty more. The original copies are kept in the greatest museums around the world, such as the MoMA in New York and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
The Rmn-Grand Palais has joined forces with the Musée des Impressionismes Giverny to publish a new edition of this reference work, based on the copy held in the museum's collections.
This facsimile is preceded by an introduction by Cyrille Sciama and introductory texts by Isabelle Cahn, curator at the Orsay Museum, and by Benoît Chrétien, musicologist.
Text by Claude Terrasse
Illustrations by Pierre Bonnard
Written in French.
40 pages / 32 illustrations
Co-publication of the Rmn-Grand Palais / The Musée des impressionnismes Giverny
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