Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Bullfighter

CultureFrench
Titles
  • Bullfighter
DateLate 19th century
MediumOil on paperboard
DimensionsSheet (at open): 9 11/16 × 7 1/16 in. (24.6 × 18 cm)
Frame: 18 1/4 × 15 11/16 × 1 5/8 in. (46.3 × 39.9 × 4.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Will L. McLendon in memory of Norbert Choucroun
Object number2022.627
Non exposé

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ProvenanceThe artist, late nineteenth century; [Galerie R.G. Michel, Paris, to 1949] (1); [Hartert Galleries, New York, 1949-1960]; purchased by Walter P. Chrysler Jr., 1960 (2); collection of William L. McClendon, to 2022; gifted to MFAH, 2022.

(1). Galerie R.G. Michel, sometimes referred to as Galerie St.-Michel, was established in spring of 1912 by Robert Gustave Michel (1880-1963), who specialized in 19th- and 20th-century prints and had a special love for the prints of Toulouse-Lautrec. Located at 17 quai Saint-Michel, in Paris’ fifth arrondissement, the gallery passed after Robert Gustave’s death to his sons, Raymond and Pierre, then eventually to his granddaughter, Francoise, and her husband Olivier. It closed at the end of 2018.

(2). The son of the founder of the Chrysler Corporation, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. devoted much of his life to amassing a valuable collection of Modern paintings, as well as stamps, rare books, and decorative art, with glasswork being a particular passion. A 1962 exhibition that began at Chrysler’s namesake museum in Provincetown, MA, and traveled to the National Gallery of Canada occasioned scandal when the Art Dealers Association of America declared 90 of its 187 total paintings to be fake. Chrysler had purchased most of the suspect works from New York dealers Harry Yotnakparian and Joly Hartert, the latter of whom sold Chrysler the present purported Toulouse-Lautrec at Hartert Galleries in 1960.

Exhibition HistoryThe Controversial Century, 1850-1950: Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Chrysler Art Museum, Provincetown, MA (summer 1962), and The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (fall 1962). Listed and illustrated in the unpaginated, unnumbered catalogue.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Signed in red gouache, bottom right corner: T-Lautrec [cursive]
Verso: printed on rectangular white sticker affixed to board with tape, upper center: WPC/1665
Verso: inscribed in blue ink on round off-white sticker affixed to board, upper right: 59/534
Verso: inscribed in black chalk or crayon, upper center: [illegible]
Verso: inscribed in blue chalk or colored pencil, lower left: 15
Verso: inscribed in graphite, lower center: M
Verso: inscribed in black ink on octagonal off-white sticker affixed to board, bottom right corner: 82

Fig. 12. Verso of paperboard, featuring stickers, inscriptions, and unidentified red wax seal at center bottom edge.

None known
Catalogue raisonnéNone

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Head of a Man
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
no date
Graphite on wove paper
39.74
Heads of Two Men Wearing Hats
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
no date
Pencil drawing on wove paper
39.75
Overall recto.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1897
Lithograph printed in gray-green on China paper, from the edition of 355
2024.56
Le Jockey (The Jockey)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1899
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
92.456
Frontispiece
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1896
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
97.577
Yvette Guilbert--Chanson Ancienne
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1898
Transferred lithograph in colors on laid paper
91.1896
Les Vieux Monsieurs (The Old Gentlemen)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1894
Lithograph in brown ink on cream Japanese paper
2018.297
Frederick Wenz
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
c. 1888
Oil on canvas
57.41
Femme aux gants debout: Mlle. Honorine Platzer dans le jardin de M. Forest
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1891
Oil and tempera on board
2021.52
At the Table of Monsieur and Madame Natanson
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1898
Oil on board
98.303
Mathematisches Bildnis (Mathematical Portrait)
Paul Klee
1919
Oil transfer on wove paper, mounted on paperboard
2002.3533
Moulin Rouge
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1891
Lithograph in colors on wove paper, state I/II
98.304