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.
