Pierre Bonnard
In the Painter’s Studio

Public Domain

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Artist Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947)French, 1867–1947

CultureFrench

Titles

In the Painter’s Studio

Datec. 1902

PlaceParis, France

MediumOil on cardboard on panel

Dimensions17 3/4 × 16 3/4 in. (45.1 × 42.5 cm)

Credit LineJohn A. and Audrey Jones Beck Collection, gift of Audrey Jones Beck

Object number98.269

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

223 Beck Galleries

On view

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Department

European Art, Beck Collection

Special Collections

Object Type

PAINTING

Provenance[Ambroise Vollard (1865–1939), Paris, possibly acquired from the artist, June 1904] [1]; [Etienne Bignou (Paris, 1891–Paris, 1950), Paris] [2]; [Galerie M.[ax] Kaganovitch, Paris, after 1924; by 1942] [3]; Mme. Loeb, Paris; [Galerie M[ax]. Kaganovitch, Paris, by 1954], purchased by Emil Bührle, Zurich, March 1954 [4]; [purchased by Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, 1960] [5]; purchased by Mr. and Mrs. John A. Beck, Houston, 1964 [6]; given to MFAH, 1998.

[1] Vollard photo no. 4295. “Registre des entrées et sorties de juin 1904 à décembre 1907 avec des achats aux artistes […],”MS 421 (4.5), Vollard Papers, Musée d’Orsay, Paris. (Confirmed by Robert McD. Parker, October 2024). Ambroise Vollard represented Bonnard until the artist joined Galerie Bernheim-Jeune by 1900. According to Gloria Groom, “Bonnard is the only artist that Vollard actively collected, and his purchases at auction, through dealers, and from the artist himself did not stop when Bonnard changed his gallery affiliation.” Groom, “Vollard, the Nabis, and Odilon Redon,” in Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 94.

[2] Bignou photo no. 3616. Galerie Étienne Bignou Photo Archive. Digitized on Wildenstein Platner Institute. (Accessed by Robert McD. Parker, September 2024).

[3] According to Dauberville (1965), Kaganovitch (1891–1978), who ran the Galerie Max Kaganovitch between 1935 and 1968, owned and/or sold the painting twice. Kaganovitch’s name appears in the catalogue raisonné before the unidentified “Mme. Loeb” and again as the seller to Bührle. Kaganovitch was born in Ukraine and the Jewish sculptor-turned-art dealer emigrated to France in 1924. Stripped of his French citizenship by the Vichy regime in 1942, he and his family fled to Switzerland. After returning to France in 1945, Kaganovitch fought a long legal battle to reclaim his gallery. Source: “Galerie Max Kaganovitch,” Bloomsbury Visual Arts. https://www.bloomsburyvisualarts.com/ (Accessed by Julia May Boddewyn, 15 September 2024).

[4] Purchase information is from Dauberville (1965). Bührle is known to have acquired a number of works from Kaganovitch. This work was no. 11878 in the Bührle collection. Ibid. Bührle collection archives confirmed this transaction took place on 10 March 1954. (Email to Julia May Boddewyn, 7 January 2025).

[5] Bührle collection archives confirmed this was sold to Marlborough in 1960. (Email to Julia May Boddewyn, 7 January 2025).

[6] Invoice to John A. Beck from Marlborough Fine Art, dated 30 April 1964. (Object file, MFAH, Confirmed by Julia May Boddewyn, 20 September 2024).

Exhibition HistoryEXHIBITED Zurich, Kunsthaus, "Sammlung Emil G. Bührle", 1958, no. 260.
EXHIBITED: London, Marlborough Fine Art, "French Masters", 1962, no. I.
EXHIBITED: Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, "The Collection of John A. and Audrey Jones Beck", 1974, pp. 14-15.

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Recto: signed lower right: Bonnard

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