The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 9, 2026

A vertically oriented oil painting in soft, blended brushstrokes depicts Armand Berton, a man with light skin tone. He turns slightly to our right, his face emerging from a dark, shadowy background. Light from our top left highlights his forehead and the bridge of his nose, while the rest of his features are lost in heavy shadow. He wears dark clothing with a small white collar visible, giving the figure a hazy appearance.

Armand Berton

c. 1891

Eugène Carrière

(French, 1849–1906)
France, 19th century
oil on fabric
Framed: 62.2 x 54 x 7.6 cm (24 1/2 x 21 1/4 x 3 in.); Unframed: 46 x 38 cm (18 1/8 x 14 15/16 in.)
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.244
Location: Not on view

Description

Associated with the 19th-century Symbolist movement in France, Carrière developed a distinctive, almost monochromatic palette suggesting a dream world. The limited color in this portrait of his friend, the deaf painter Armand Berton, also focuses attention on the psychology of the sitter. Translucent glazes make Berton's face emerge from the shadows. Engulfed in silence, Berton seems to rely on his other senses to perceive the world around him.
  • Armand Berton, Paris. M. G. Masson (written in pencil on stretcher). Paris sale, Drouot, 5 May 1970 (lot 12), Portrait du peintre Armand Berton, 46 x 38 cm, ff 3,800. (A photograph in the Musée d'Orsay, Documentation, gives the information that the painting was at one point with Galerie Alain Lesieutre, Paris.) London sale, Sotheby's, 6 December 1973 (lot 29, repr.), Portrait du peintre Armand Breton [sic], for £700 to Dabney Associates. London sale, Sotheby's, 4 December 1975 (lot 335, repr.), Portrait du peintre Armand Breton [sic] [bought in]. Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Bequeathed to the CMA in 1980.
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (June 1981): 163–219. Reproduced: p. 178; Mentioned: p. 213, no. 89 www.jstor.org
    Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 102-103, Vol. I, no. 38
  • Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
    Paris, Champ de Mars. Salon (1891), no. 165, Portrait de M. Armand Berton.
  • {{cite web|title=Armand Berton|url=false|author=Eugène Carrière|year=c. 1891|access-date=09 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.244