Cleveland Museum of Art

The Game of Checkers

Édouard Vuillard

Date: 1899
Medium: color lithograph
Culture: France, 19th century
Department: Prints
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

Ambroise Vollard (1865–1939), a dealer in Impressionist paintings, was also an important print publisher. In 1895 he commissioned his first portfolio from Pierre Bonnard: 12 color lithographs called Some Aspects of Paris Life (one of them is shown nearby). This was followed by many other albums of prints, including Vuillard's Landscapes and Interiors . Bonnard and Vuillard were members of a group of artists called the Nabis—the Hebrew word for "prophet"—which evokes both their playful mysticism and their determination to develop a new artistic language based on the notion that form and color could be used expressively. The Nabis favored subjects of the modern city and middle-class family life depicted in a decorative and even whimsical manner. Vuillard's intimate scenes of comfortable domesticity are wonderful examples of the beautiful color lithography produced in the 1890s. Checkers is derived from the ancient Middle Eastern game of Qirkat.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.

Clarence A. Freeman, Champion Checker Player, Champion Oarsman of the World, from the Champions of Games and Sports series (N184, Type 2) issued by W.S. Kimball & Co.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art