Ellie Bogardus' Midnight in Paris

Bonnard by Fred Penney

My blog acquaintance Mathias, the illustrator whose father Jean-Marie Bonnard was married to Ellie Borgardus, sent a treasure trove of images painted by Ellie and his father from the period 1964 to 1967. The two were living in the house on Nottingham Drive in Cambria at the time. Among the images sent were three of the elder Bonnard. The first is a portrait by Fred Penney (Frederick Doyle Penney, 1900-1988), another Cambria artist and neighbor (1). Ellie Bogardus was using the name Bonnard as late as 1969 when A Boy Named Charlie Brown was released - she was credited as a graphic designer.

Jean-Marie by Ellie, 1967

A portrait by Ellie of her husband (shown to the right) was signed in 1990 or 1991 during a trip to France - her paintings from the 1960's were not signed at that time (2). Beards were obviously stylish then, perhaps a sign of membership among the artist colony at the time. The thought of a gathering of artists reminded me of Midnight in Paris, the latest Woody Allen movie that depicted a nostalgic author and other characters longing for eras gone by. Paris was a magnet for Americans artists from the later 1800's to 1920's - Allen plays with that theme in his movie. With a little imagination, it seems that there is a little bit of that feeling with these folks in Cambria as well - artists from both sides of the Atlantic tuning their instruments along the Pacific coast - another kind of Mediterranean environment like that of southern France.

Cat and Jean-Marie

The third image of Bonnard shows what looks like will be the beginnings of Ellie's later domestic interiors style, showing a scene with Bonnard sitting at a small table reading - drink in his hand, and most noticeable, a cat resting on another table nearby. Cats in paintings, cats etched on walls, cat-styled mailboxes, real cats roaming between the house and yard - a most common theme when you look back. I recall few if any cats in the Charlie Brown cartoon features. The mood of Bonnard is hard to gauge - maybe only concentration as he reads.

Other than an art appreciation class I took my freshman or sophomore year in college, having my own photographic darkroom set up in my bathroom the last three years living at home before going off to college, and taking an adult education class where I dabbled at oil painting for a short time in 1986, I have admired the art of others, not tried to produce any myself. Style doesn't matter for the most part (unlike music), it's the visual that gets me thinking about the story behind the story, so the posting of these will be by an untrained curator.

Following are a collection of paintings by Jean-Marie Bonnard that Mathias provided. I need to find out if Bonnard is still active with his art. (I have since found out from Mathias that J.M. is alive and was born in 1936. He was a student at the Beaux Arts (Fine Art school) in Nancy, but did not paint much - but painted while married to Ellie. His blog can be found by clicking here. Note his self-portrait sketch in the upper left of his blog - still with a beard.)

Jean-Marie Bonnard #1, c. 1964-67

Jean-Marie Bonnard #2, c. 1964-67

Jean-Marie Bonnard #3, c. 1964-67

Jean-Marie Bonnard #4, c. 1964-67

Jean-Marie Bonnard #5, c. 1964-67

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(1)  Frederick Doyle Penney was born in Fullerton, Nebraska on January 10, 1900. After the University of Nebraska, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Art Students League in New York City. Settling in Los Angeles in 1924, he continued at Chouinard Art School under Hinkle, Chamberlin, and Pruett Carter. During the 1930s he was active in the Los Angeles art scene while operating a design center. At the onset of World War Two he moved to Chicago to work in his father's factory and continued to paint in that area until his return to California in 1957. His last 30 years were spent in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs. He died there on February 2, 1988. Penney specialized in desert landscapes in oil and watercolor. A Chicago art critic said of his work, "He slides the seasons of the year through his palette like strands of colored silk." Member: Desert Art Center (Palm Springs); Laguna Beach Art Ass'n; California Watercolor Society; Shadow Mountain Palette Club. Exhibited: California Art Club, 1930-33; California Watercolor Society, 1930-35; California Statewide (Santa Cruz), 1931; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; Society for Sanity in Art, 1940, 1942.

(2) Mathias Bonnard, personal communication by email, December 10, 2011.