Rue le soir sous la pluie (Rainy Street, Evening), plate 12 from the series Quelques aspects de la vie de Paris

The main similarity of Pierre Bonnard’s lithograph to Buhot’s etching Une Matinée d’Hiver au quai de l’Hôtel Dieu is the weather, but Bonnard’s nighttime scene, in which the rain-slick streets reflect the garish gaslights of the cafés and restaurants in the background, also shows two women taking part in the city’s night life. Other scenes from Bonnard’s series include views of tree-lined boulevards, streets seen from above, and parks, but at least one other plate, Place le soir, also features two young ladies out at night. Both of these scenes place the viewer on street level as a fellow pedestrian and would-be interlocutor with these women.

(Andrew C. Weislogel, “Mirror of the City: The Printed View in Italy and Beyond, 1450–1940,” catalogue accompanying an exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, curated by Andrew C. Weislogel and Stuart M. Blumin, and presented at the Johnson Museum August 11–December 23, 2012)