Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Bullfighter

Public Domain

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AttributionAttributed to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)French, 1864–1901

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

Not on view

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Department

Prints and Drawings

Object Type

DRAWINGS, PASTELS & WATERCOLORS

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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