Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard - Phillips Collection

Synopsis

The advent of the Kodak camera in 1888 made photography accessible to amateurs as well as to professionals. Artists were not immune to its allure, and many began experimenting with the camera as a means of capturing images as studies for final works and of observing the world and the people in it. "Snapshot" investigates seven Post-Impressionist painters and printmakers: Pierre Bonnard, George Hendrik Breitner, Maurice Denis, Henri Evenepoel, Henri Riviere, Felix Vallotton, and Edouard Vuillard. Although celebrated for their works on canvas and paper, these artists also made many personal and informal snapshots. Depicting a wide range of subjects, including interiors, city streets, nudes, and portraits, these photographs were kept private and were never exhibited. As a result, they have received little attention, and most have never been published. Juxtaposing personal photographs with the related paintings and prints by these Post-Impressionist artists, "Snapshot" offers a new perspective on the story of early photography and on the synthesis of painting and photography at the end of the 19th century.