Mary Bonner

Impressions of a Printmaker

Mary Carolyn Hollers George

• Publisher: Maverick Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781595348371
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Artist Monographs

Mary Bonner: Impressions of a Printmaker is the definitive account of the life of an iconic Texas artist known for her delicate etchings and prints of the places and people that make South Texas unique. Mary Bonner begins with the artist's early years in San Antonio and continues through her awakening as an artist at the Woodstock colony in upstate New York in summer 1922 to her years in France under the instruction of master printmaker Édouard Henri Léon. In Paris, Bonner began entering her work in juried exhibitions, and these early Paris prints were met with some acclaim. She came into her own when she began experimenting with a more innovative and modern style, exemplified by Les cowboys, a three-part frieze inspired by memories of her family's ranch in Texas.After several years of dedicated study in Paris, Bonner began splitting her time between San Antonio and Paris. By 1928 she had begun to take on the causes of art and conservation in San Antonio, devoting less time to her own work. She spent the last years of her life at the family residence in San Antonio and died in 1935 at age forty-eight. Bonner's legacy, both as an accomplished artist and as a steadfast advocate for the arts, lives on, especially in San Antonio. Mary Bonner is copublished with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Villa Finale. The book will accompany a retrospective of Bonner's work at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. This edition includes a new preface, an introduction by McNay curator Lyle Williams, and an afterword by Jane Lewis, director of Villa Finale.

WORKS BY MARY BONNER IN INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS

IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Alamo Committee, Daughters of the Republic of Texas

Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute

San Antonio Art League

San Antonio Museum Association

Trinity University

IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

Houston Public Library, Special Collections Department

The Museum of Fine Arts

IN NEW YORK, NEW YORK

New York Public Library, Prints Division

IN LONDON, ENGLAND

British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings

IN PARIS, FRANCE

Formerly in the Luxembourg Museum

In the current reorganization of France’s art patrimony, the collections housed in the Luxembourg Palace were distributed to other institutions. A survey of these revealed that the Bonner work is unaccounted for at the present time.

1. Mary Bonner. Circular Cowboy, *1929. Etching and aquatint, 16″ × 16″ (40.5 × 40.5 cm).

Mary Bonner’s store of images gathered during her early years on a Texas ranch furnished the inspiration for etchings done decades later. The artist interpreted with originality and sympathetic humor the life of the cowboy as a working hand. In Circular Cowboy, the kerchief and saddlestrap bear touches of color which appear to have been applied to the plate, then printed as in a monotype.

2. Mary Bonner. White Mule, 1927. Aquatint, 10⅛″ × 23⅜″ (25.6 × 59.5 cm).

With a roughness and vigor appropriate to her theme, Bonner’s relish for gesture is expressed in a short-hand treatment of man and beast. The artist achieved order by working these forms into a decorative frieze in the manner of Greek vase painting, with equal consideration of negative spaces. Additional elements introduced in the border are arranged in a suggested symmetry which provides counterpoint to the design. Bonner explored a variety of techniques and here used pure aquatint, achieving four distinct tones.

3. Mary Bonner. Les Cowboys, 1925. Etching, 10″ × 42¼″ (25.3 × 107.4 cm).

Les Cowboys was selected for the Salon d’Automne of 1925 and was reproduced by three French newspapers to illustrate their coverage of the exhibition. The Parisian press delighted in Bonner’s native Texas themes, especially the decorative use of fauna in the border. Note that two of the cowboys are cowgirls. The print was hand colored with gouache.

4. Mary Bonner. Bucking Broncos, 1924. Etching with aquatint, 6″ × 9

″ (15.1 × 25 cm).

Bucking Broncos was one of three etchings in a group titled “Texas” which hung in the Salon d’Automne of 1924. The plate appears to have been printed first for line, then, with color applied, printed a second time. The etching is included in the collections of the British Museum and the New York Public Library.

5. Mary Bonner. Calf Roping, 1924. Line etching an...