Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Estimate

300,000 - 400,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
SNOBISME, or CHEZ LARUE
signed TL (lower right)
oil on board
68 by 52cm., 26 3/4 by 20 1/2 in.

Provenance

Galerie Bing, Paris
Ginetta Mendelssohn-Gordigiani, Florence
Mme Durand Matthiesen, Geneva
Private Collection, Basel
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1999

Exhibited

Florence, Palazzo Pitti, La Peinture Française à Florence, 1945, no. 212, illustrated in the catalogue
London, The Matthiesen Gallery, Exposition Toulouse-Lautrec, 1951, no. 29, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Petit Palais, Exposition de Gericault à Matisse, 1959, no. 188
Vienna, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1966
Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art & Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, Toulouse-Lautrec, 1968-69
Tokyo, Art Museum Isétan, Toulouse-Lautrec, 1982-83, no. 49
Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec au Albi et dans les collections Suisses, 1987, no. 163
Lugano, Galleria Pieter Coray, L'Impressionismo nella Scultura, 1989, no. 37
Heinz Berggruen, Monsieur Picasso und Herr Schaften, Erinnerungsstücke, Berlin, 2001, illustrated p. 36

Literature

Maurice Joyant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, 1926, vol. I. p. 253
M. G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et son œuvre, New York, 1971, vol. III, no. P. 653, illustrated p. 399
Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings (exhibition catalogue), Chicago, Chicago Museum of Art, 1979, no. 98, illustrated p. 303
Bruno Foucart, Tout l'œuvre peint de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, 1986, no. 600, illustrated p. 125

Catalogue Note

The present work, sharing it's composition with a drawing of the same title (M. G. Dortu, op. cit., New York, 1971, D.4.329), comprises not only a seemingly classic Lautrec café scene, but also offers important insight into the artist's working practices.

The postures and attitudes of the couple are charted in fluent lines of purple, blue and green hues. The white highlight mapped on the man's collar describes how Lautrec has grappled with the solidity of form and interplay of shapes. Clearly the subjects' facial expressions have become fundamental points of concentration, whilst the early indications of background evoke setting and atmosphere.

Indeed, the work is emblematic of Richard Thomson's description of Lautrec's focus on 'social geography' (R. Thomson, 'Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre: Depicting Decadence in Fin-de-Siècle Paris', in Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre (Exhibition Catalogue), Washington, 2005 p. 3). It was executed during a period when Lautrec had become somewhat disenchanted with the indulgence of Montmartre and after the centre of popular entertainment had moved towards central Paris. There is certainly a high degree of propriety embodied in this couple that defines a more conservative, established scenario.

COMP: 425D07008_COMP
Snobisme, or Chez Larue illustrated in 'Le Rire', 24th April 1897