The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Boatyard

The Boatyard

c. 1875
(French, 1841–1901)
France, 19th century
oil on fabric
Framed: 105.4 x 149.9 x 15.2 cm (41 1/2 x 59 x 6 in.); Unframed: 77.6 x 122.7 cm (30 9/16 x 48 5/16 in.); Former: 111 x 155.5 x 6.5 cm (43 11/16 x 61 1/4 x 2 9/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin 1977.123
Location: 220 19th Century European

Did You Know?

This painting was submitted to the Paris Salon in 1876 as Cazin’s first major work.

Description

Cazin exhibited this painting at the Paris Salon of 1876, marking the start of his official career. It depicts a boatyard in the artist's native Boulogne, a port city on the English Channel. The young man in the foreground is melting tar at a smoky fire, while men work on a boat just above him. Cazin was associated with the Realist movement during his early years and later with the Impressionists.
  • Until 1925
    Ernest May [1845-1925], Paris, France
    1933
    (Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France, June 19, 1933 (no. 56), unsold
    1947
    (Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France, November 24, 1947 (no. 124)
    1954
    (Tedesco Frères, Paris, France, sold to Walter P. Chrysler)
    1954-1973
    Walter P. Chrysler Jr. [1909-1988], New York, NY, sold to Grégoire Galleries)
    1973
    (Grégoire Galleries, New York, NY)
    Until 1976
    (Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY, sold to Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin)
    1976-1977
    Noah L. Butkin [1918-1980] and Muriel S. Butkin [1915-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1977-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Ernest May, a banker and art collector, may have purchased the painting directly from Cazin or possibly at the 1876 salon, where the painting was exhibited.  On May 2, 1908, Galerie Georges Petit held Cazin’s estate sale, which contained 31 works by the artist, but the CMA picture is not listed.  Although May bought back a number of the works included in a June 4, 1890 sale of his own collection, the Cleveland painting is not among the several Cazin works included.  In any case, a handwritten note in the CMA curatorial file says that May kept the Cazin until his death in 1925, and indeed, an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs from that year situates the painting in the “Coll. de M. Ernest May.”
    2 Hôtel Drouot's annotated copy of the sale catalogue shows that the painting, there titled "Le chantier naval," did not sell.
    3 In the catalogue, the painting is titled "Chantier de construction de bateaux."
  • Musée des arts décoratifs (France). Cinquante ans de peinture française, 1875-1925, du 28 mai au 12 juillet, 1925. Paris: A. Lévy, 1925.
    Notes on the Ernest May collection, in CMA curatorial file.
    (Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 19, 1933 (no. 56), unsold
    Hôtel Drouot. Tableaux modernes. 1947.
    Chrysler Art Museum. The Controversial Century, 1850-1950: Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. [Provincetown, Mass.]: [Chrysler Art Museum], 1962.
    Shepherd Gallery, bill of sale for Noah Butkin, August 19, 1976, in CMA curatorial file.
    Allison Termine (Chrysler Museum), email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Nov. 30, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.
    Jean Zimmerman, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 1, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.
    Chrysler Art Museum. The Controversial Century, 1850-1950: Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. [Provincetown, Mass.]: [Chrysler Art Museum], 1962.
    Shepherd Gallery, bill of sale for Noah Butkin, August 19, 1976, in CMA curatorial file.
    Jean Zimmerman, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 1, 2015, in CMA curatorial fil
    Allison Termine (Chrysler Museum), email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Nov. 30, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.
    Shepherd Gallery, bill of sale for Noah Butkin, August 19, 1976, in CMA curatorial file.
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing, 1830-1900. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
    Jean Zimmerman, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 1, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.
    Victoria Sears Goldman, telephone conversation with Jean Zimmerman, Nov. 30, 2015.
    Shepherd Gallery, bill of sale for Noah Butkin, August 19, 1976, in CMA curatorial file.
    Shepherd Gallery, bill of sale for Noah Butkin, August 19, 1976, in CMA curatorial file.
    Bellier de la Chavignerie, Emile, and Louis Auvray. Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'école française depuis l'origine des arts du dessin jusquà nos jours. Paris, France: Renouard, 1882.
    A. M. "Charles Cazin." Bulletin de l'Art Ancien et Moderne 93 (March 30, 1901): 97. Mentioned: P. 97
    Desjardins, Paul. "En Memoire de Jean-Charles Cazin." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 43 (September 1901): 177-191. Mentioned: P. 182
    Bénédite, Léonce. Jean-Charles Cazin. Paris, France: Librairie de l'art ancien et moderne, 1902.
    Bénédite, Léonce. L'art au XIXe siècle, 1800-1900. Paris, France: Chantier a Boulogne,1905.
    Thieme, Ulrich, Felix Becker, Fred. C. Willis, and Hans Vollmer. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig, Germany: W. Engelmann, 1907. Reproduced: p. 246, vol. 6
    Chrysler Art Museum, and National Gallery of Canada. The Controversial Century, 1850-1950: Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. : Chrysler Art Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. [Place of publication not identified]: [publisher not identified], 1962. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 14
    "Notable Works of Art Now on the Market: Supplement." The Burlington Magazine 115, no. 843 (June 1973): 1-60. Mentioned and reproduced: Plate 49 www.jstor.org
    Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire Critique et Documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs de Tous les Temps et de Tous les Pays.
    Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1976. Mentioned: Vol. 2, P. 611
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing, 1830-1900. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 227-229, cat. no. 199
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. "The Realist Tradition." The Connoisseur 205, no. 824 (October 1980): 92-99. Reproduced: P. 98; mentioned: P. 93
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. "Jean Charles Cazin-Memory Painting and Observation in The Boatyard." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LXVIII, no.1 (January, 1981):2-16. Reproduced: on cover and fig. 1
    Kikan Mizue = Mizue 911 (February 1981): 94. Reproduced: P. 94
    "Realist Tradition." Scottish Art Review 15 (November 1982): 25-26. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 25-26
    Levin, Miriam R. Republican Art and Ideology in Late Nineteenth-Century France. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1986. Mentioned: p. 184; Reproduced: p. 200, fig 17
    Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: P. 32
    Musée d'Orsay, Association française d'action artistique, and Réunion des musées nationaux (France). Les Oubliés du Caire: Ingres, Courbet, Monet, Rodin, Gauguin : chefs-d'oeuvre des musées du Caire : Musée d'Orsay, 5 octobre 1994-8 janvier 1995. Paris: Association française d'action artistique, Ministère des affaires étrangères, 1994. Reproduced: p. 164
    Sullivan, Edward J., and Ruth K. Meyer. The Taft Museum: Its History and Collections. New York, NY: Hudson Hills Press, 1995. Reproduced: p. 244 vol. 1
    D'Argencourt, Louise and Roger Diederen. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue of Paintings, Part Four; European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Reproduced: p. 42
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. South Bend, IN: Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, 2012 Reproduced: p. 19, fig. 4
  • Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Snite Museum of Art, South Bend, IN: (September 2-December 2, 2012).
    The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing 1830 - 1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 12, 1980-January 18, 1981).
    Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
    The Controversial Century 1850-1950: Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, MA (1962); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (September 28 - November 4,1962).
    Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Cinquante ans de peinture française 1875-1925. Paris, France (1925).
    Salon. Palais des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France (1876).
  • {{cite web|title=The Boatyard|url=false|author=Jean-Charles Cazin|year=c. 1875|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.123