The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

May Belfort

1895

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

(French, 1864–1901)

France, 19th century

oil on millboard

Sheet: 62.5 x 48.2 cm (24 5/8 x 19 in.); Framed: 86 x 71.5 x 8.9 cm (33 7/8 x 28 1/8 x 3 1/2 in.)

Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1958.54

Catalogue raisonné: Dortu P588

Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec depicted May Belfort in numerous prints, drawings, posters, and paintings.

Description

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was inspired by café concerts, popular places of Parisian entertainment that featured singers or other performers. This drawing depicts May Belfort, one such entertainer, who the artist discovered in 1895 during a visit to the popular nightclub Les Décadents. Belfort soon became one of Lautrec's favorite models and is seen here wearing the ruffled dress and bonnet that became a signature of her performances. The singer adopted a babyish voice and stood motionless on the stage, encouraging her fans to shout lyrics along with her.

?-by 1909
(Bernheim-Jeune, Paris)
after 1909-?
(Etienne Bignou, Paris)
?-?
(Alexander Reid & Lefevre, Ltd., London)
?-1927
(Kraushaar Galleries, New York)
1927-1931
Lizzie P. Bliss [1864–1931], New York, by descent to her estate
1931-after 1934
estate of Lizzie P. Bliss, New York
after 1934-1948
George M. Moffett, Jr., Queenstown, MD
1948
(Maynard Walker Gallery, New York)
1948-1958
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. [1889–1957], Cleveland, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
1958-
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Provenance Footnotes
1 Toulouse-Lautrec fiches, Galerie Étienne Bignou Photo Archive, c. 1909-1950. Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.
Portraits and Other Works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, no. 28. Exh. cat. London: Goupil Gallery, 1898. Mentioned: p. 4, no. 28
H. de Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. cat. Paris: Galeries Durand-Ruel, 1902. Mentioned: no. 15
Duret, Théodore. “Les Affiches d’art de Toulouse-Lautrec.” La Renaissance de l’art français et des industries de luxe 2 (1919): 381-83. Reproduced: p. 383
Régnier, Henri de. L’Art moderne et quelques aspects de l’art d’autrefois. Paris: Bernheim-Jeune, 1919. Reproduced: vol. 2, pl. 159
Duret, Théodore. Lautrec. Paris: Bernheim-Jeune and Cie, 1920. Reproduced: pl. XII
Coquiot, Gustave. Lautrec, ou Quinze ans de moeurs parisiennes, 1885–1900. Paris: Ollendorff, 1921. Mentioned: pp. 164, 218
Joyant, Maurice. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901, peintre. Paris: Floury, 1926. Mentioned: p. 290
A Century of French Painting. Exh. cat. Glasgow: Alex Reid and Lefèvre, 1927. Mentioned: p. 30, no 41
Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901. Exh. cat. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1930. Mentioned: pp. 23–24, no. 25
Tenth Loan Exhibition: Lautrec, Redon. Exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1931. Mentioned: p. 15, no. 23; Reproduced: pl. 23 www.moma.org
Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss. Exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1931. Mentioned: p. 38, no. 142; Reproduced: pl. 142 www.moma.org
The Lillie P. Bliss Collection. Exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1934. Mentioned: pp. 6, 69-70, no. 66; Reproduced: pl. 66 www.moma.org
Mack, Gerstle. Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1938. Mentioned: p. 176
Lassaigne, Jacques. Toulouse-Lautrec. London: Hyperion, 1939. Reproduced: p. 102
Six Masters of Post-Impressionism. Exh. cat. New York: Wildenstein, 1948. Mentioned: p. 37, no. 31; Reproduced: p. 40
Florisoone, Michel and M. G. Dortu. Toulouse-Lautrec: Exposition en l’honneur du cinquantième anniversaire de sa mort. Exh. cat. Paris: Orangerie des Tuileries, 1951. Mentioned: pp. 22-23, no. 62
Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters and Lithographs. Exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1956. Mentioned: p. 46, no. 32; Reproduced: p. 20-21
Centenaire de Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. cat. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1964. Mentioned: pp. 74-76, no. 60; Reproduced: p. 75
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 179 archive.org
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901. Exh. cat. Vienna: Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, 1966. Mentioned: p. 62, no. 20; Reproduced: pl. 19
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 179 archive.org
Caproni, Giorgio. L’Opera completa di Toulouse-Lautrec. Milan: Rizzoli, 1969. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 114 (ill.), no. 421a
Novotny, Fritz. Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: Phaidon, 1969. Mentioned: p. 192; Reproduced: pl. 83
Dortu, M. G. Toulouse-Lautrec et son œuvre. New York: Collectors Editions, 1971. Mentioned: vol. 3, pp. 362, no. 588; Reproduced: p. 363
Thomson, Richard. Toulouse-Lautrec. London: Oresko Books, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 84-85
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 222 archive.org
Monneret, Sophie. L'Impressionnisme et son époque. Paris: Denoel, 1979. Mentioned: p. 314
Cooper, Douglas. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: Abrams, 1982. Mentioned: p. 106; Reproduced: p. 107
Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. Cat. London: Hayward Gallery, 1991. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 332
Denvir, Bernard. Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Mentioned: p. 153; Reproduced: p. 22
Schimmel, Herbert. The Letters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Mentioned: p. 321n2
Kokatsu, Reiko. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. Reproduced: p. 44, no. 40
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 3
Cate, Phillip Dennis, Mary Weaver Chapin, and Richard Thomson. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. Exh. cat. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2005. Mentioned: pp. 141, 257, no. 198; Reproduced: p. 184
Benesch, Evelyn and Ingried Brugger, eds. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Der Weg in die Moderne. Exh. cat. Vienna: Kunstforum Wien, 2015. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 96, 242, no. 40
Marchesseau, Daniel, et al . Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec à la Belle Époque, French Cancans: Œuvres graphiques, une collection privée. Exh. cat. Martigny: Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 2017. Reproduced: p. 141
Vircondelet, Alain. Dans les Pas de Toulouse-Lautrec: Nuits de la Belle Époque. Strasbourg: Éditions du Signe, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 136-37 (image identified incorrectly as CMA drawing)
Provenance Footnotes
1 Toulouse-Lautrec fiches, Galerie Étienne Bignou Photo Archive, c. 1909-1950. Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.
Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Der Weg in die Moderne. Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Austria (organizer) (October 16, 2014-January 25, 2015).
H. de Toulouse-Lautrec. Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris (May 14–31, 1902).
Mary Cassatt and the Feminine Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Paris. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 14, 2012-January 20, 2013).
Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901). Bernheim-Jeune & Cie, Paris (October 12–24, 1908).
Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).
Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (March 20-June 12, 2005).
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000).
Art and the Stage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 22-August 16, 1981).
Portraits and Other Works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Goupil Gallery, London (1898).
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec 1864–1901. Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (June–July 1966).
Seven Decades of Modern Art. Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, NY (organizer) (April 26-May 21, 1966).
Centenaire de Toulouse-Lautrec. Palais de la Berbie, Albi (June–September, 1964); Petit Palais, Paris (October–December 1964).
Toulouse-Lautrec. Palais de la Berbie, Albi, Albi, France (organizer) (June 1-September 30, 1964).
Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters and Lithographs. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (March 20–May 6, 1956).
Toulouse-Lautrec: Exposition en l’honneur du cinquantième anniversaire de sa mort. Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris (May–August 1951).
Six Masters of Post-Impressionism. Wildenstein & Co., New York (April 8–May 8, 1948).
The Lillie P. Bliss Collection. Museum of Modern Art, New York (May 14–September 12, 1934).
Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss. Museum of Modern Art, New York (May 17–September 27, 1931).
Tenth Loan Exhibition: Lautrec, Redon. Museum of Modern Art, New York (February 1–March 2, 1931).
Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901. Art Institute of Chicago (December 23, 1930–January 18, 1931).
A Century of French Painting. Alex. Reid & Lefèvre at McLellan Galleries, Glasgow (May 1927).
L’art français au service de la science française: Exposition d’œuvres d’art des XVIIIe, XIXe et XXe siècles au profit du Comité national d’aide de la recherche scientifique. Chambre syndicale de la curiosité et des beaux-arts, Paris (April 25–May 15, 1923).
Exposition de peintures et de lithographies originales de H. de Toulouse-Lautrec. Palais du Louvre, Paris (January 24–February 20, 1910).
Provenance Footnotes
1 Toulouse-Lautrec fiches, Galerie Étienne Bignou Photo Archive, c. 1909-1950. Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.
{{cite web|title=May Belfort|url=false|author=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|year=1895|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Provenance Footnotes
1 Toulouse-Lautrec fiches, Galerie Étienne Bignou Photo Archive, c. 1909-1950. Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1958.54