Woman in Black

c. 1891

Edouard Vuillard

Artist, French, 1868 - 1940

Painted with wide strokes in almost geometric areas of mottled color, a woman wearing a long black dress stands at the side of a table in this stylized, vertical composition. The table stretches two-thirds of the way across the painting from the right edge, and the woman stands at the left side so her lower body is partially behind the table. Her copper-brown hair appears to be pulled up, and her face is painted as a peach-colored profile but without features. Her hands rest on the table near a white plate holding six yellow orbs, presumably fruit. To the right of the plate is a light brown object lined with orange along its left side, but this form is difficult to interpret because the painting is done in such a broad style. Along the left edge of the painting, a dark, pecan-brown door opens next to a rectangular object, probably a clock, on the beige-colored wall behind the woman and table. The floor is a shade between dusky green and brown. The left edge of the cardboard on which this is painted appears streaked, perhaps lightly or incompletely filled in. The artist signed the lower left corner, “E. Vuillard.

Media Options

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On View

East Building Ground Level, Gallery 103-C

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on cardboard

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 26.8 x 21.9 cm (10 9/16 x 8 5/8 in.)
    framed: 45.7 x 39.7 x 4.1 cm (18 x 15 5/8 x 1 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.93

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Vuillard atelier; (Galerie Louis Carré, Paris), in 1942.[1] (Georges Seligmann, Inc., New York).[2] Acquired between 1952-1955 by Capt. Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris;[3] sold 15 August 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] Exhibited at the Galerie Louis Carré in 1942.
[2] See letter dated 22 September 1999 from Guy Cogeval, in NGA curatorial files.
[3] See letter from Molyneux to Bruce dated 30 July 1955 in Gallery Archives. RG39, copy in NGA curatorial records.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1958

  • Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, 1958, no. 46, as Woman in Black Dress at Table

1961

  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 70, repro

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 172, repro

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 73, repro.

2010

  • Paths to Abstraction 1867 to 1917, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2010, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2013

  • Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016, pl. 57.

Bibliography

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 372, repro.

1978

  • Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 98, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 431, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 73, repro.

2003

  • Salomon, Antoine, and Guy Cogeval. Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance: Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels. 3 vols. Milan and Paris, 2003: 1:no. IV-21, repro., as The Cat on the Table.

Inscriptions

lower left with atelier stamp: E Vuillard

Wikidata ID

Q20190278

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