Oysters

1862

Edouard Manet

Artist, French, 1832 - 1883

A plate of oysters, a halved lemon, an oyster fork and shells, and a dish of salt are arranged on a wooden tabletop in front of a gray wall in this horizontal still life painting. The front edge of the table seems close to us, and the objects span the width of this composition. Six oysters are crowded on the oval plate, which is white and edged with royal blue. The narrow tines of the oyster fork are angled toward the plate as the handle, which is shaped like the blade of a butter knife, angles to our right and seems to jut into our space. The two empty shells are next to the knife in front of the lemon, which has been cut in half through its girth. One cut edge faces our left and the other half rests with its cut edge down on the table. The bowl with salt mounded within is about the same size as the lemon and has a border of brown at the top and near the foot. The entire painting is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, and some vague lines on the side of the bowl suggest a Japanese or Chinese character.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Adele R. Levy Fund, Inc.

  • Dimensions

    overall: 39.2 x 46.8 cm (15 7/16 x 18 7/16 in.)
    framed: 60 x 67.6 x 8.9 cm (23 5/8 x 26 5/8 x 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1962.3.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gift from the artist to Suzanne Leenhoff Manet; (Manet sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4 February 1884, no. 90). Paul Michel Michel-Lévy, Paris; (Michel-Lévy sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 October 1889, no. 13). Paul Gallimard [1850-1929], Paris, by 1908;[1] sold 1920 to Charles Montag, Switzerland; sold to Emile Staub-Terlinden, Männendorf, Switzerland, by 1923; Staub-Terlinden collection;[2] sold 1943 through (Wildenstein, London and New York).[2] Dr. David M. [1892-1977] and Adele Rosenwald Levy [1892-1960], New York, by 1946;[3] gift 1962 to NGA.
[1] Described in Louis Vauxcelles, "Collection M.P. Gallimard," Les Arts (September 1908): 20.
[2] Treasury License no. 32476 dated January 1943 authorizing Wildenstein to transfer funds to the Staub-Terlinden family members, some of whom were Swiss citizens (National Archives RG131/Entry 247/Box 495, copy NGA curatorial files). The painting was reproduced in 1923 and 1926 articles about the Staub collection (La Renaissance ,August 1923, and "L'Art Français dans les Collections privées en Suisse. (Suite) La Collection Emile Staub," L'Amour de L'Art VII (1926): 44). The painting remained in Switzerland until 1938, when sent to an exhibition in Paris. From there it was shipped to New York and remained with Wildenstein until sold. (See National Archives RG131/Foreign Funds Control Investigative Report/Box 3, no. LA-10-39, copy NGA curatorial files)
[3] The painting was lent by Dr. and Mrs. Levy to a 1946 exhibition in New York.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1884

  • Exposition Manet, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1884, no. 18.

1903

  • Exposition d'Oeuvres de l'Ecole Impressionniste, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, April 1903, no. 25.

1912

  • Exposition d'art moderne a l'Hôtel de la Revue "Les Arts", Paris, 1912, no. 29, as Nature morte--Huitres.

1927

  • Erste Sonderausstellung in Berlin, Modernen Galerie Thannhauser im Berliner Kunstlerhaus, February 1927, no. 143, repro.

1928

  • Edouard Manet, Galerie Matthiesen, Berlin, 1928, no. 6.

1930

  • Vincent van Gogh en zijn Tijdgenooten, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1930, no. 212.

1932

  • Manet, Musée de L'Orangerie, Paris, 1932, no. 11.

1937

  • Chefs d'oeuvre de l'art français, Palais National des Arts, Paris, 1937, no. 355.

1938

  • La peinture française du XIXe siècle en Suisse, Paris, 1938, no. 61, repro.

1942

  • French Art of the Nineteenth Century, Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, 1942, unnumbered catalogue.

1946

  • Paintings from New York Private Collections, The Museum of Modern Art, 1946, unnumbered checklist p. 6.

1961

  • The Mrs. Adele R. Levy Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1961, unnumbered catalogue.

1986

  • Capolavori Impressionisti dei Musei Americani, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples; Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, 1986-1987, no. 23, repro.

  • Degas and His Friends, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, 1986, no. 24.

1989

  • Manet, Ordrupgaardsamlingen, Copenhagen, 1989, no. 6, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 21, repro.

1992

  • From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metroplitan Museum of Art, New York, National Gallery of Greece, Athens, 1992-1993, no. 42, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 16, repro.

2000

  • Manet: The Still-Life Paintings, Musée d'Orsay, Paris; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 2000-2001, pl. 15.

  • Cézanne-Manet-Schuch. Drei Wege zur autonomen Kunst [Cézanne-Manet-Schuch. Three Paths toward Autonomous Art], Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Stadt Dortmund, 2000, no. 13, repro.

2011

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, no. 23, 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. 45.

Bibliography

1902

  • Duret, Théodore. Historie de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1902:202, no. 38.

1908

  • Vauxcelles, Louis. "Collection de M.P. Gallimard." Les arts 81 (September 1908): 20.

1909

  • Sainte-Croix, Camille de. Edouard Manet, Portraits d'Hier. Paris, 1909: 12.

1910

  • Duret, Théodore. Manet and the French Impressionists. Translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch. London and Philadelphia, 1910: 216, no. 38.

1912

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Edouard Manet. Munich, 1912:282

  • Alexander, A. "Exposition d'Art moderne." Les arts (August 1912): VIII, repro.

1913

  • Borgmeyer, Charles Louis. The Master Impressionists. Chicago, 1913:237

1919

  • Duret, Théodore. Historie de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1919:240, no. 38.

1926

  • "L'Art Français dans les Collections privées en Suisse: La Collection Emile Staub," L'Amour de L'Art VII (1926): 40, repro. 44.

1927

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. "Die Franzosen in Berlin." Cicerone 19 (1927): repro. 44.

1931

  • Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931:90, no. 60.

1932

  • Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. 2 vols. Paris, 1932: 1:122, no. 57, repro.

  • George, Waldemar. "The Staub Collection at Maennendorf." Formes 25 (May 1932):271-272, repro.

1947

  • Florisoone, Michel. Manet. Monaco, 1947:16, repro.

  • Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet. Paris, 1947:58, 516, 535, no. 63.

1955

  • Bataille, Georges. Manet. Translated by Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons. Lausanne, 1955: 44, repro.

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: 82.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 72, repro.

  • Bodelsen, Merete. "Early Impressionist Sales 1874-94 in the light of some unpublished 'procès-verbaux'." The Burlington Magazine 110 (June 1968): 342, no.90.

1970

  • Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970: no. 54, repro.

1974

  • Chu, Petra Ten Doesschate. French Realism and the Dutch Masters: The Influence of Dutch Seventeenth-Century Paintings on the Development of French Painting between 1830 and 1870. Utrecht, 1974: 63, repro. 122.

1975

  • Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet, catalogue raisonné 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1975:I:70, no. 63

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 210, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 453, no. 654, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 244, repro.

2006

  • Brettell, Richard R., and Stephen F. Eisenman. Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum. New Haven and London, 2006: 254, 255 fig. 67d.

2009

  • Matisse, 1917-1941. Exh. cat. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2009:66, 206.

2010

  • Parigi : gli anni meravigliosi : impressionismo contro Salon. Exh. cat. Castel Sismondo, Rimini. Treviso, 2010: 61.

Inscriptions

lower left: Ed. Manet

Wikidata ID

Q20188630

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