Art Institute of Chicago

At the Circus: The Bareback Rider (Au Cirque: Écuyère)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)LinkedCulture matchlcp-4b458c973ce6

Date: 1888
Medium: Oil on vellum
Culture: France
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 204686

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

One of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s favorite haunts was the Cirque Fernando, also the subject of his large painting, Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando) in the collection of the Art Institute. Like many of the artists in his circle, Toulouse-Lautrec experimented with styles and materials beyond easel painting. His decision to paint on a tambourine with little castanets (called a tambour de basque ) was perhaps inspired by the instrument’s association with bohemian life and creative freedom. The shape of the tambourine mirrors that of the paper hoop held by the clown in the larger painting, so that our view here seems to be framed by the hoop just after the bareback rider has broken through it.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Patterson/Taylor Acquisition Fund; Mr. and Mrs. Donald W. Patterson Endowment Fund
Provenance: Gustave Pellet (1859–1919), Paris, by 1926 [Joyant 1926]; by descent to his son-in-law, Maurice Exsteens (1887–1962), Paris, by 1931 [Paris 1931 exh. cat.]. M. Knoedler & Co., Inc, New York, by 1957 [New York 2010 auc. cat.]. Mrs. Charles Sherwood Payson, New York, by 1958 [New York 2010 auc. cat.]; by descent to Anonymous [New York 2010 auc. cat.]; sold, Christie’s, New York, May 11, 1988, lot 21, to Dan Searle (1926–2007), Illinois; bequeathed to Anonymous [New York 2010 auc. cat.]; offered for sale, Christie’s, New York, May 5, 2010, lot 335, bought in., sold to the Art Institute of Chicago.