Anne Bonnet née Thonet (16 May 1908 – 14 November 1960) was a
Belgian painter.
Bonnet was born in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and began her studies in art in 1924, but abandoned them in 1926 on the death of her parents. In 1930 she married Louis Bonnet, a dealer in silk, and her financial situation allowed her to return to art. In 1936 she resumed art studies under Jacques Maes and held her first exhibition in 1938.
Originally influenced by realists such as
James Ensor, she later adopted a geometric style of landscape painting, which became increasingly abstract, inviting comparisons with
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
.
Her work was selected to be on show at the
Documenta II exhibition in
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
alongside other Belgian abstract artists like
Henri Michaux
Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim ...
,
Michel Seuphor
Fernand Berckelaers (10 March 1901, in Borgerhout – 12 February 1999, in Paris), pseudonym Michel Seuphor ( anagram of Orpheus), was a Belgian painter.
Seuphor established a literary magazine, ''Het Overzicht'', in Antwerp in 1921. He moved in ...
and Marc Mendelsohn. She was represented by three artworks: ''Vestiges'' (1956), ''Vestiges Grises'' (1956) and ''Hélianthes'' (1957).
Exhibitions of her work have been frequent since her death, including a major series in 1963 at the
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They include six museums: the Oldmasters Muse ...
and at the Art museums of
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
and
Charleroi
Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. .
Her iconic ''La ville d'or'' is held by the
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They include six museums: the Oldmasters Muse ...
.
References
* Pierre-Paul Dupont, ''THONET, Anne (1908–1960, épouse BONNET'', in
Éliane Gubin
Éliane Gubin (born in 1942) is a Belgian historian, researcher and professor of political and social history, specializing in the history of women and feminism. In the late 1980s, she initiated the introduction of women's history at the Universi ...
, Catherine Jacques, Valérie Piette & Jean Puissant (eds), ''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIX
e et XX
e siècles.'' Bruxelles: Éditions Racine, 2006.
* A. Bode
'et al.'' ''II. Documenta, Kunst nach 1945 internationale Ausstellung. Malerei. Skulptur. Druckgrafik.'', Kassel 1959.
1908 births
1960 deaths
Artists from Brussels
Belgian women painters
20th-century Belgian painters
20th-century Belgian women artists
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