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Jan 7, 2022

Jul 27, 2007

Monsieur Boileau at the Café

1893

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

(French, 1864–1901)

France, 19th century

Oil and tempera with charcoal on millboard

Sheet: 80.3 x 65 cm (31 5/8 x 25 9/16 in.); Framed: 105.4 x 89.5 x 8.3 cm (41 1/2 x 35 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1925.1409

Catalogue raisonné: Dortu P.465

Location

not on view

Did you know?

The green drink on the table is probably absinthe, a popular drink with artists at the time that was thought to have hallucinogenic properties.

Description

Cleveland’s 1925 purchase of this work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec marked the first acquisition of one of the artist’s drawings by a museum in the United States. Its subject, Monsieur Boileau, was a gossip columnist known to drink heavily at Le Mirliton, a nightclub. Here, saturated, acidic tones evoke the room’s gas lamps and thinned oil paint absorbs into its support, producing texture that complements the scene’s grittiness. In his own time, Toulouse-Lautrec was considered a portraitist for such depictions of friends and other inhabitants of his neighborhood. He preferred drawing for its immediacy, using it to record his sitters’ personalities through materials and formal choices.

Inscriptions

Inscription

inscribed, upper left, in gouache: à mon ami Boileau / HTLautrec [HTL in monogram]

Provenance

after 1893-after 1898

Monsieur Boileau, Paris

after 1898-by 1924

Baron Lafaurie, Paris

by 1924-by 1925

(Paul Rosenberg, Paris)

after 1924-1925

(Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)

1925-

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Exposition des Indépendants. Exh. Cat. Paris: Pavillion de la ville, 1893. Mentioned: p. 1246

Saunier, Charles. "Critique d'Art: Salon des Indépendants," La Plume, no. 96 (April 15, 1893): 171-73. Mentioned: p. 172

Coquiot, Gustave. Toulouse-Lautrec. Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1923. Mentioned: p. 56; Reproduced: pl. 27

Brook, Alexander. "Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec." The Arts 4, no. 3 (September 1923): 125-165. Reproduced: p. 158

Barthélemy, A. Paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. Cat. Chicago: Arts Club of Chicago, 1924. Mentioned: no. 1; Reproduced: cover

Milliken, William M. "A Painting by Toulouse-Lautrec." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 12, no. 10 (December 1925): 159-161. Mentioned: pp. 159-161; Reproduced: n.p.

Joyant, Maurice. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, peintre, 1864-1901. Paris: Floury, 1926. Mentioned and reproduced: vol. I, p. 148

Joyant, Maurice. "Toulouse-Lautrec." L'Art et l'artistes (February 1927): 145-172. Mentioned: p. 155

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 40 archive.org

“Lists of Objects in the Exhibition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 9 (1929): 159–75. Mentioned: p. 167 www.jstor.org

Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec au profit de la Société des Amis du Musée d'Albi. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée des arts décoratifs, 1931. Mentioned: no. 98

Wilenski, R. H. French Painting. Boston: Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1931. Mentioned: p. 277

MacOrlan, Pierre. Lautrec: peintre de la lumière froide. Paris: Floury, 1934. Reproduced: p. 95

Independent Painters of Nineteenth Century Paris. Exh. Cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1935. Mentioned: p. 34, no. 54

Milliken, William M. "The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Art News 34, no. 37 (June 13, 1936): 7-14. Mentioned: p. 14

Milliken, William M. "Superb Art Display Marks Cleveland Museum's 20th Anniversary." Art Digest 10 (July 1, 1936): 5-22. Reproduced: p. 20

Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters, Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Musée D'Albi, France. Exh. Cat. New York: M. Knoedler and Company, 1937. Mentioned: p. 24, no. 14; Reproduced: pl. 14

Uhde, Wilhelm. The Impressionists. Vienna: Phaidon, 1937. Reproduced: pl. 107

"Cleveland Museum: It is a treasure trove of great art masterpieces from all around the world." Life (September 20, 1943): 64-68. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 68

Jewell, Edward Alden and Aimee Crane. French Impressionists and their Contemporaries Represented in American Collections. New York: Hyperion, 1944. Reproduced: p. 174

Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 37 archive.org

Visson, Vladimir. A Loan Exhibition of Toulouse-Lautrec, For the Benefit of the Goddard Neighborhood Center. New York: Wildenstein and Company. 1946. Reproduced: p. 35, no. 22

Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864-1901. Exh. Cat. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute Department of Fine Arts. 1947. Mentioned: p. 13, no. 16; Reproduced: opp. p. 12

Saint-Gaudens, Homer. "Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1864-1901." Carnegie Magazine (1947). Reproduced: p. 257

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: p. 15, no. 42; Reproduced: pl. V

Jourdain, Francis. Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris: Braun, 1951. Reproduced: pl. 22

Mack, Gerstle. Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: Knopf, 1952. Mentoined: p. 268

Cooper, Douglas. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. New York: Abrams, 1952. Reproduced: n.p.

Toulouse-Lautrec: Exhibition Organized in Collaboration with the Albi Museum. Exh. Cat. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art. 1955. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 39

Jourdain, Francis and Jean Adhémar. T-Lautrec : Essai sur Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris: P. Tisne, 1955. Mentioned: p. 86

Dortu, M.G., Jean Adhémar, and Madeleine Grillaert. Toulouse-Lautrec en belgique. Paris: Editart, 1955. Reproduced: n.p.

Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters, and Lithographs. Exh. Cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1956. Mentioned: p. 46, no. 25; Reproduced: p. 17

A Loan Exhibition of 19th and 20th Century French Paintings: Masterpieces Recalled, for the Benefit of the League for Emotionally Disturbed Children, Inc. Exh. Cat. New York: Paul Rosenberg & Co, 1957. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 33

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 510 archive.org

Lowry, Bates. The Visual Experience: An Introduction to Art. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1961. Mentioned: pp. 72-73; Reproduced: pp. 72, 77

Centenaire de Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. Cat. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1964. Mentioned: pp. 57-58, no. 43; Reproduced: p. 56

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

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: no. 36; Reproduced: pl. xxxvi

Lassaigne, Jacques. Toulouse-Lautrec e la parigi dei cabarets. Milan: Fabbri, 1969. Mentioned: p. 99; Reproduced: pl. xxxi

Dortu, M. G. Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre. New York: Collectors Editions, 1971. Mentioned: vol. 2, pp. 282-83; Reproduced: p. 283.

Lieberman, William S., ed. Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse. Exh. Cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1975. Mentioned: pp. 208, 268, no. 107; Reproduced: pp. 17, 209

Thomson, Richard. Toulouse-Lautrec. London: Oresko, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 72, no. 43

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

Stuckey, Charles F. Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings. Exh. Cat. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1979. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 290

Tabacco storia arte. Rome: Amministrazione dei monopoli di stato, 1980. Mentioned: p. 184; Reproduced: p. 221

Henze, Anton. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Leben und Werk. Stuttgart: Belser, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 37; Reproduced: p. 38

Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. Cat. London: South Bank Centre, 1991. Mentioned: pp. 18, 23, 133, 160; Reproduced: p 161.

Schimmel, Herbert D., ed. The Letters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Mentioned: p. 205, n. 1

Murray, Gale Barbara. Toulouse-Lautrec: A Retrospective. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1992. Reproduced: p. 191

Walther, Ingo F. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864-1901. Koln: Benedikt Taschen, 1993. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 86

Robinson, Fred Miller. The Man in the Bowler Hat: His History and Iconography. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Mentioned: pp. 72-74; Reproduced: p. 73.

Shimohama, Akiko and Chūji Ikegami. Rōtorekku. Tōkyō: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 1993. Mentioned: pp. 22-23; Reproduced: p. 23, pl. 34

Pelfrey, Robert H. Art and Mass Media. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1996. Mentioned: pp. 74-75; Reproduced: p. 74.

Cate, Phlilip Dennis, Mary Weaver Chapin, and Richard Thomson. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2005. Mentioned: pp. 69, 256, no. 91; Reproduced: p. 84

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 14

Bos, Eric. Absinthe, het grote kwaad: de groene fee als inspiratiebron van de kunsten. Groningen : Boekwerk & partners, 2016. Reproduced: p. 9

Zmelty, Nicolas-Henri. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: La Stratégie de l'Ephémère. Paris: Éditions Hazan, 2019. Mentioned: p. 150; reproduced: p. 153, no. 95

Lloyd, Christopher. Impressionist & Post-Impressionist Drawings. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson, 2019. Reproduced: P. 271

Zmelty, Nicolas-Henri, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: la stratégie de l'éphémère. 2019. repr. p. 753, no. 95, mentioned p. 150

Salsbury, Britany. “Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The widely recognized collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 62, no. 4 (December 2022): Cover, 18-19. Reproduced: Cover.

Exhibition history

Exposition des Indépendants, Paris, France (March 18 - April 27, 1893).

Exposition Toulouse Lautrec. Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY (1914).

Exposition rétrospective de l'oeuvre de Toulouse-Lautrec. Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, France (1914).

Les Oeuvres des grands maîtres du XIX siècle. Paul Rosenberg & Co., Paris, France (1922).

Paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Art Institute of Chicago, organized by Arts Club of Chicago (December 23, 1924 - January 25, 1925)

Toulouse-Lautrec: Exhibition Organized in Collaboration with the Albi Museum. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (October 29 - December 11, 1955); Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, IL (January 2 - February 15, 1956).

French Art Since Eighteen Hundred. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 8-December 8, 1929).

Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, au profit de la Société des Amis du Musée d'Albi. Musée des arts Décoratifs, Paris, France (organizer) (April 9-March 17, 1931).

Independent Painters of Nineteenth-Century Paris. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (March 15-April 28, 1935).

The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).

Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters. M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY (organizer) (November 15-December 11, 1937).

Exhibition of French Impressionists from Manet to Cézanne. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer).

The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).

French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942).

19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943).

A Loan Exhibition of Toulouse-Lautrec. Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY (organizer) (October 23-November 23, 1946).

Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (organizer) (March 6-April 20, 1947).

Toulouse-Lautrec exposition en l'honneur du cinquantième anniversaire de sa mort. Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (organizer).

Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters and Lithographs. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (organizer) (March 20-May 6, 1956).

Masterpieces Recalled: Benefit for League for Emotionally Disturbed Children. Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, NY (organizer) (February 6-March 2, 1957).

Toulouse-Lautrec. Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY (February 7-March 14, 1964).

Centenaire de Toulouse-Lautrec. Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (organizer).

Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (April 9-May 11, 1975); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (May 26-June 23, 1975); The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (organizer) (August 4-September 1, 1975).

Toulouse-Lautrec. Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 8, 1991-January 19, 1992).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000).

Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (July 16-October 10, 2005).

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).

Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).

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{{cite web|title=Monsieur Boileau at the Café|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1925.1409|author=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|year=1893|access-date=29 November 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Monsieur Boileau at the Café

Monsieur Boileau at the Café

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

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