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
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
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- 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.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033618
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