The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 10, 2023

Self-Portrait

1872

Armand Guillaumin

(French, 1841–1927)

France, 19th century

Pastel on cream laid paper mounted on cardboard

Image and Sheet: 37.8 x 31.9 cm (14 7/8 x 12 9/16 in.)

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.129

Catalogue raisonné: Gray 28

Location

101A Prints & Drawings

Fun Fact

Armand Guillaumin came from a working-class background and was employed as a laborer for Paris's Department of Bridges and Roads in order to support his artistic ambitions.

Description

This self-portrait is one of several that Armand Guillaumin created as a young artist during the early 1870s. Around this time, he worked closely with Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne, experimenting alongside them with vivid layers of color. Here, Guillaumin juxtaposed dark, dull tones with bright blue and orange to create unexpected optical blends. He meets the viewer's gaze directly, suggesting his intense focus at a period when such experimentation was just beginning to coalesce into the Impressionist movement.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed and dated, lower left, in black pastel: Guillaumin 72

Armand Guillaumin

French painter, 1841-1927
Provenance
1872-1927
Studio of the artist [1841-1927], by descent to the artist's daughter, Marguerite Guillaumin
1927-1967
Marguerite Guillaumin [1893-1967], by descent within the Guillaumin family
1967-2003
Guillaumin family collection
?-?
(Thierry Mercier Gallery, Paris, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Shaker Heights, OH)
?-2020
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Shaker Heights, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
2020-
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Trabault, Marc-Edo. Armand Guillaumin en famille et sur le motif. Exh. cat. Anvers: Antwerpen Peré, 1971. Mentioned: pp. 74-75; Reproduced: p. 63
Gray, Christopher. Armand Guillaumin. Chester, CT: Pequot, 1991. Mentioned: pp. 12, 268, no. 28; Reproduced: frontispiece
Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927): En famille et sur le motif. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Thierry Mercier, 2003. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 1
Exhibition history

Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927): En famille et sur le motif. Galerie Theirry Mercier, Paris (October 1–31, 2003).

Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).

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

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.129