Bather Arranging Her Hair

1893

Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

Shown from the knees up, a nearly nude, young woman with pale pink skin stands with her hands on her upswept, chestnut-brown hair in front of a pile of cloth, probably clothing, in this vertical painting. Blended brushstrokes give the painting a soft, almost blurred look. She stands with her body angled slightly to our left and her head tipped forward under her hands, which work in her hair. Her cheeks are flushed and her wide, pink lips are closed. Her round breasts are firm, and a piece of bright white fabric is bunched around her upper thighs below a smooth pubic area. Garments in the pile of fabric behind her are petal pink, vivid white, ruby red, and buttercup yellow. The area behind and around the woman and fabric is loosely painted with sage green, caramel brown, and golden yellow. Touches of yellow on a field of green to our right suggest grass and flowers. The artist signed the work with dark paint in the lower right corner: “Renoir.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 92.4 × 74 cm (36 3/8 × 29 1/8 in.)
    framed: 110.2 x 94 cm (43 3/8 x 37 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.204

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris); (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris).[1] Alexandre Berthier [1883-1918], 4th Prince de Wagram, Paris; sold probably by his heirs though (Canadeesche Hypothek Bank) through (Étienne Bignou, Paris) to (Alex Reid & Lefèvre, London); on joint account with (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York and Paris) and (Marcel Kapferer); sold May 1929 through (Galerie Étienne Bignou, Paris) to Chester Dale [1882-1962], New York;[2] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1]Vollard and Petit according to annotated photograph in Bignou albums at the documentation center of the Musée d'Orsay (copies in NGA curatorial files).
[2] Purchased in May 1929 per Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files. Letters dated June-July 1929 from Etienne Bignou document his sending the Wagram pictures to London (Lefèvre archives, Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain, London, TGA 2002/11, Box 218). Reid & Lefèvre Paintings Sold, sheet no. 206, #18/29 B1412 gives acquisition source and partial share information, and sale date of October 1929 (Lefèvre archives, Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain, London, TGA 2002/11, Box 283). See also M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stockbook no. 5, London 1928-1939, and Stockbook no. 8, New York, no. A622; copies in NGA curatorial files

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Renoir and His Tradition, Museum of French Art, New York, 1931, no. 22, repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

Bibliography

1923

  • Régnier, Henri de. Renoir. Paris, 1923: repro. pl. 9.

1925

  • Goulinart, J.-G. "Technique picturale: Les sources du métier de Renoir." L'Art vivant I, no. 7 (April 1, 1925): 22-24, repro.

  • Coquiot, Gustave. Renoir. Paris, 1925: repro. p. 73

1928

  • André, Albert. Renoir. Paris, 1928: repro. pl. 54

  • Stein, Leo. A. Renoir 24 Phototypies. Les Albums d'art Druet XIII. Paris, 1928: plate 9.

1929

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Renoir. Leipzig, 1929: repro. p. 359, no. 285.

1931

  • Dale, Maud. "Auguste Renoir," Creative Art IX, no. 6 (December 1931):450-454, repro.

  • Flint, Ralph. "Renoir and His Tradition Seen in Loan Exhibit, Museum of French Art." Art News 30 (28 November 1931): 6, repro.

1938

  • Florisoone, Michel. Renior. Paris, 1938: repro. 133.

1941

  • Catalogue of French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 13, repro. pl. XXV

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Now the Great French 19th Century in the National Gallery." Art News 40, no. 17 (December 15-31, 1941):repro. p. 18

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 65, repro.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 65, repro.

  • Frost, Rosamund. Pierre Auguste Renoir. New York, 1944:41, repro.

1952

  • Gaunt, William. Renoir. London, 1952: plate 69.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 75, repro.

  • Berr de Turique, Marcelle. Renoir. Paris, c. 1953: repro. plate 69.

1961

  • Fosca, François. Renoir, His Life and Work. London, 1961: repro. 205.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 324, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 112.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 114, repro.

  • Lambourne, Nigel. Renoir: paintings, drawings, lithographs and echings. London, 1965: repro. 27.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 101, repro.

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 83-84, color repro.

1972

  • Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir nel period impressionista. Milan, 1972: no. 670.

1974

  • Fouchet, Max-Pol. Les Nus de Renoir. Paris and Lausanne, 1974:148, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 294, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 469, no. 685, color repro.

  • White, Barbara Ehrlich. Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters. New York, 1984:repro. 197.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 339, repro.

1997

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism, 1997, no. 235, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Renoir.

Wikidata ID

Q20190358

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