On View
Not on viewObject number1989/90.30
Seated Clown
Artist
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec
(French, 1864-1901)
Date1896
Mediumlithograph
Dimensionsimage flush: 20 5/8 × 15 3/4 in. (52.4 × 40 cm)
frame: 34 × 27 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (86.4 × 70.5 × 3.8 cm)
frame: 34 × 27 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (86.4 × 70.5 × 3.8 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Genevieve U. Gilmore
Exhibition History"A Gift to Kalamazoo: Selections from the Genevieve U. Gilmore Collection," KIA (Apr. 2 - May 5, 1991).
"70 Years, 70 Works from the KIA Permanent Collection," KIA (Nov. 19, 1994 - Feb. 10, 1995).
"Highlights from the Permanent Collection: Prints and Drawings," KIA (Sept. 15 - Nov. 25, 2001).
"French Scenarios," KIA Long Gallery (May 21 - Sept. 20, 2004).
"Masterworks on Paper," KIA Long Gallery (Sept. 2005 - Jan. 2006).
"Curator's Choice: European Works on Paper," KIA Long Gallery (May 9 - Aug. 27, 2008).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).
"Passion on Paper: Masterly Prints from the KIA Collection," March 17 - July 15, 2018, Groos Gallery.Label Text"Paris was the epicenter of progressive printmaking in the 1890s and no process was more revolutionary than color lithography. Toulouse-Lautrec was among the first artists to embrace its potential as a fine art medium and remains to this day one of its most outstanding practitioners.
This print is from a milestone publication in the history of the medium, a portfolio of ten color lithographs called Elles. The subject of the portfolio is the daily life of prostitutes in a brothel. Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned by a major publisher to produce this work but given broad latitude about the exact manner in which to interpret the topic. Subject aside, Seated Clown is a beautiful representation of the artist’s sophisticated skills with crayon, brush, and a splatter technique which he enjoyed and perfected (written by Nancy Sojka for Passion on Paper: Masterly Prints from the KIA Collection, 2018)."
