The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of June 23, 2025
Schlomé Fuss in the Synagogue
1898
(French, 1864–1901)
Image: 18 x 14.2 cm (7 1/16 x 5 9/16 in.); Sheet: 33.4 x 23.5 cm (13 1/8 x 9 1/4 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1950.590
Catalogue raisonné: Wittrock Vol.II.192 ; Delteil 239
Location: not on view
Description
At the Foot of Mount Sinai by politician and journalist Georges Clemenceau collects six short stories about the lives of Jewish characters in the Poland of his time. As he worked on the commission to illustrate the book, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec spent many hours sketching Russian and Polish Jews living in the Tournelle district in Paris, using them as inspiration for his depiction of Clemenceau’s characters, including the Jewish officer in the Russian army and the poor shopkeeper shown here. The book was written and released during France’s Dreyfus affair, a political controversy surrounding false accusations of treason and espionage against Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus. Clemenceau supported Dreyfus and, as editor of the newspaper L’Aurore (Dawn), published several articles defending him.- Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).
- {{cite web|title=Schlomé Fuss in the Synagogue|url=false|author=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|year=1898|access-date=23 June 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.590