Overview
The seamy underside of the Parisian demimonde, populated by the singers, dancers, and patrons of Montmartre nightclubs was Toulouse–Lautrec's principal subject. Scion of one of France's great aristocratic families, Lautrec suffered physical maladies and stunted growth due to genetic factors. He was encouraged to draw during his long convalescences and permitted professional training in an academic studio, which he deserted to embrace modernism. Lautrec particularly admired Degas and emulated his unusual perspectives and gritty social realism. He mastered the new medium of color lithography and produced an impressive body of posters and printed illustrations that share the incisive linear quality of the design of this painting.
Isolated by his painful physical deformity, Lautrec became an alcoholic and a denizen of dance halls and nightclubs in Montmartre, a poor working–class neighborhood untouched by Baron Haussmann's renovations of Paris. Insight gained from his handicap and his emotional remoteness from his subjects gave his depictions special force, bitterness, and sympathy, while the artifice of his preferred settings and subjects could alter reality amusingly or grotesquely in his work. Lautrec was an observer, a voyeur rather than a participant, and alienation is endemic even in the crowded Corner of the Moulin de la Galette.
Inscription
upper right: HTLautrec (HTL in ligature)
Provenance
François Depeaux [1853-1920], Rouen; (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, 31 May - 1 June 1906, no. 74, as Intérieur de cabaret); purchased by (Durand-Ruel)[1] probably for Otto Gerstenberg [1848-1935], Berlin; by inheritance to his daughter, Margarethe Scharf; sold 1951 to (Carstairs Gallery, New York);[2] sold 20 March 1951 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[3] bequest 1963 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1893
- 9me Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1893, no. 1243, as Un coin du Moulin de la Galette.
- 1936
- [exhibition], Staten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, 1936.
- 1959
- Masterpieces of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
- 1965
- The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.
- 1994
- Toulouse-Lautrec: Marcelle Lender in "Chilpéric", National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1994-1995, not in brochure.
- 2010
- From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
Bibliography
- 1913
- Coquiot, Gustave. Lautrec. Paris, 1913:repro. p. 69.
- 1920
- Duret, Thédore. Lautrec. Paris, 1920:63.
- 1921
- Coquiot, Gustave. Lautrec. Paris, 1921:209.
- 1923
- Brook, Alexander. "Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec," The Arts IV (Sept. 1923):149, repro.
- 1926
- Joyant, Maurice. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. 2 vols. Paris, 1926-1927:I:126, 276, repro., II:145.
- 1939
- Lassaigne, Jacques. Toulouse-Lautrec. Translated by Mary Chamot. Paris, 1939: no. 85, repro.
- 1952
- Jourdain, Francis. T-Lautrec: Essai sur Toulouse Lautrec. Paris, 1952: no. 51, repro.
- 1952
- McBride. Henry. "Chesterdale's Way." Art News 51, no. 9 (December 1952): 21, repro.
- 1953
- Hunter, Sam.Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. New York, 1953: plate 13.
- 1953
- Walker, John. "Moulin de la Galette." Ladies Home Journal (June 1953):52+, repro.
- 1956
- Cooper, Douglas. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. New York, 1956: 104, reproo.
- 1959
- "50 of the most fashionable pictures in the world." Art News 58 (April 1959):30, repro.
- 1960
- Fiala, Vlastimil. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Prague, 1960:no. 25, repro.
- 1965
- Cooke, H. Lester. "A Plunger in the Market: Chester Dale and his Collection." Art in America. 53, no. 2 (April 1965):48-55, repro.
- 1965
- Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 132, repro.
- 1965
- Frankfurter, Alfred. "How Great is the Dale Collection?" Art News 64 (May 1965):40-43, 51-53, repro.
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 131.
- 1966
- Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:474, color repro.
- 1968
- European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 118, repro.
- 1969
- Caproni, Giorgio and G.M. Sugana. L'opera completa di Toulouse-Lautrec. Milan, 1969: no. 310, repro.
- 1969
- Fermigier, André. Toulouse-Lautrec. Translated by Paul Stevenson. London, 1969:250, repro. 79.
- 1971
- Dortu, M.G. Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre. 6 vols. New York, 1971:II:P429, repro.
- 1973
- Reff, Theodore. "Love and Death in Picasso's Early Work." Art Forum XI (May 1973):repro. p. 69.
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 350, repro.
- 1975
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 534-535, repro.
- 1978
- Adriani, Götz. Toulouse-Lautrec und das Paris um 1900. Cologne, 1978: repro. p. 75.
- 1978
- Murray, Gale Barbara. "Problems in the Chronology and volutino of Style and Subject Matter in the Art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1878-1891." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, 1978: 334-335, n. 16.
- 1979
- Stuckey, Charles F. Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings. Chicago, 1979:209, repro.
- 1979
- Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 122, pl. 109.
- 1980
- Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1980: no. 290, 429, repro. p. 321
- 1984
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 530, no. 798, color repro.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 400, repro.
- 1991
- Jarrassé, Dominique. Henri de Taoulouse-Lautrec-Monfa: Entre le mythe et la modernité. Marseille, 1991: repro. 19.
- 1991
- Néret, Gilles. Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris, 1991:80, repro. p. 79.
- 1991
- O'Connor, Patrick. Nightlife of Paris. New York, 1991:64, repro. plate 21
- 1991
- Schimmel, Herbert D., ed. The Letters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Oxford, 1991:205.
- 1991
- Stevenson, Lesley. H. de Toulouse Lautrec. London, 1991:119, repro. p. 102
- 1992
- Durozoi, Gérard. Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris, 1992:94, no. 26, repro.
- 1992
- Milner, Frank. Toulouse-Lautrec. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1992: 96, repro.
- 1992
- National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 202, repro.
- 1997
- Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1997: no. 281, repro.
- 1997
- Tamura, Ryuichi. Lautrec Story. Japan, 1997: 16, repro.
- 2001
- Gaehtgens, Thomas W. and Julietta Scharf, "Die Sammlung Otto Gerstenberg in Berlin," in Die Moderne und Ihre Sammler: Französische Kunst in Deutschem Privatbesitz. Berlin, 2001:183
- 2001
- Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 58-59, color repro.
- 2004
- Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 394-395, no. 328, color repro.
- 2006
- Brettell, Richard R., and Stephen F. Eisenman. Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum. New Haven and London, 2006: 464, fig. 124a.