Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
French, 1864-1901

At the Circus: Work in the Ring, 1899

Charcoal, pastel, and black chalk, with stumping, touches of colored pencil, and incising, on off-white wove paper
217 x 316 mm
Signed recto, lower left: "T-Lautrec"
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. E. Bensinger, 1972.1167

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Paris, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, "Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec," April 9-May 17, 1931, p. 91, cat. 275.

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, "Scènes et figures parisiennes," 1943, no. 217, 218, or 219, as Le Cirque.

London, Matthiesen Gallery, "Toulouse-Lautrec," May 18-June 30, 1951, cat. 63.

The Art Institute of Chicago, "Paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec," October 4-December 2, 1979, checklist 86.

The Art Institute of Chicago, "Great Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago: The Harold Joachim Years 1958-1983," July 24-September 30, 1985, pp. 168-169, cat. 77 (ill.), cat. by Martha Tedeschi.

The Art Institute of Chicago, "The Broad Spectrum: Color on Paper, Past and Present," September 12–October 31, 1999, hors. cat.

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago, Toulouse-Lautrec and Monmartre, 2005, p. 247, fig. 269; shown in Washington, D.C., The National Gallery of Art, March 20-June 12, 2005, and The Art Institute of Chicago, July 16-October 10, 2005.

Publication History

Arsène Alexandre, Le Figaro Illustré 145 (April 1902), p. 12 (ill.).

Manzi-Joyant (1902), p. 12 (ill.).

Theodore Duret, Lautrec (Paris, 1920), pp. 69-70.

Gustave Coquiot, Toulouse-Lautrec (1921), p. 82.

Maurice Joyant, Lautrec, 2 vols. (Paris, 1926-7) I: 223-226, II:145 and 238, no. 4

Maurice Joyant, Lautrec II (Paris, 1927), no. 4 (Ill.).

Au cirque, dix-sept Dessins aux Crayons de Couleur, II (Paris, 1932), no. 11 (ill.).

Mac Orlon, Lautrec (1934), pp. 156 and 163.

Gerstle Mack, Toulouse-Lautrec (1938), pp. 219 and 333.

Edouard Julien, Dessins de Lautrec (1942), p. 12.

Walter Kern, Lautrec (1948), p. 16.

Mariie Henraux, Henri de Toulous-Lautrec, dessinateur (1948), p. 9.

M. G. Dortu, L'étrange Toulouse-Lautrec (1951), p. 6.

Francis Jourdain and Jean Adhémar, Toulouse-Lautrec (1952), p. 55.

Lacques Lassaigne Le gout de notre temps--Lautrec (1953), p. 104.

Landolt, Toulouse-Lautrec (1955), no. 29.

Douglas Cooper, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (1958), p. 44.

Henri Perruchot, La vie de Toulouse-Lautrec (1958), pp. 314 and 320.

Edouard Julien, Lautrec (Paris, 1959), p. 53.

François Jourdain, Toulouse-Lautrec, p. 52 (ill.).

M.G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et Son Oeuvre 6 (New York, 1971), pp. 872-873, no. D. 4.554 (ill.).

Harold Joachim and Sandra Haller Olsen, French Drawings and Sketchbooks of the Nineteenth Century (Chicago, 1978-1979), no. 6A6.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Degas in The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago, 1984), p. 103, fig. 45-1.

Ownership History

Estate of the artist [stamp recto, lower right, in red ink; Lugt 1338]. Maurice Joyant (1864-1930), Paris, before 1931 [Paris 1931]. M. G. Dortu (died 1984), Paris, by 1931 [Paris 1931]. Maurice Loncle, Paris, by July 1949 [letter from Carl Schniewind to Carter Harrison of July 20, 1949, in curatorial file]. Alexandrine de Rothschild (died 1965), Paris [Joachim 1978]. Norton Simon (1907-1993), Pasadena, Calif. [Joachim 1978]. Sold by E. V. Thaw and Company, New York, to the Art Institute, 1972.