Art Institute of Chicago

Sketchbook

Gustave Caillebotte

Date

June 1883–September 1887

Medium

Sketchbook containing 40 drawings: 30 in graphite, 7 in watercolor over graphite, and 3 in graphite and brush and gray wash, on 40 sheets of cream wove paper bound in brown cloth

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In 1881 Gustave Caillebotte purchased a home near Argenteuil, then a rural town on the outskirts of Paris, with his brother Martial, and this led to a notable decrease in his artistic productivity. Caillebotte’s “lost years” coincide with the use of this sketchbook. The subjects of the drawings in the book—panoramic views, portraits, intimate garden scenes, details of trees and architecture, and copies after other works—reflect Caillebotte’s shift away from his earlier depictions of urban Parisians. None are studies for later works; instead this sketchbook is more experimental, as Caillebotte focused on developing his use of watercolor and drawing out of doors.

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