Madame Léon Clapisson

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

1883

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Title: Madame Léon Clapisson
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1883
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed upper left: Renoir 83
Dimensions: 81.2 × 65.3 cm (32 × 25 3/4 in.); Framed: 103.2 × 87 × 10.8 cm (40 5/8 × 34 1/4 × 4 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Reference Number: 1933.1174
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16622/manifest.json

Catalogue illustré du Salon, under the direction of F.-G. Dumas, exh. cat. (Librairie d’Art L. Baschet, 1883), p. 44, cat. 2031.
Explication des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants (Bernard, 1883), p. 185, cat. 2031.
Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition internationale de peinture et de sculpture, cinquième année, exh. cat. (Renou & Maulde, 1886), p. 23, cat. 125.
Félix Fénéon, “Ve exposition internationale,” La vogue (June 28–July 5, 1886), p. 342.
Durand-Ruel, Paris, Tableaux par Monet, C. Pissarro, Renoir, et Sisley, exh. cat. (Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1910), p. 5, cat. 43.
“Renoir at Durand-Ruel’s,” American Art News 10, 19 (Feb. 17, 1912), pp. 2, 9 (ill.).
Possibly Durand-Ruel, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Durand-Ruel, New York, 1912), cat. 7.
Art Institute of Chicago, General Catalogue of Paintings Sculpture and Other Objects in the Museum (Art Institute of Chicago, 1914), p. 211, cat. 2142.
Ambroise Vollard, La vie et l’oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, vol. 2 (A. Vollard, 1919), p. 92.
Ambroise Vollard, “Le salon de Mme Charpentier,” L’art et les artistes 1 (Jan. 1920), p. 164.
François Fosca, Renoir (F. Rieder, 1923), p. 61; pl. 19. Translated by Hubert Wellington as Renoir, Masters of Modern Art (Dodd, Mead, 1924), p. 6; pl. 24.
Théodore Duret, Renoir (Bernheim-Jeune, 1924), p. 70. Translated into English by Madeleine Boyd as Renoir (Crown, 1937), pp. 52; pl. 56.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1925), p. 162, cat. 2157.
M. C., “Renoirs in the Institute (Continued),” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 19, 4 (Apr. 1925), p. 48 (ill.).
Albert André, Renoir, Cahiers d’aujourd’hui (G. Crès, 1928), pl. 15.
Julius Meier-Graefe, Renoir (Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1929), p. 169, no. 163 (ill.).
Reginald Howard Wilenski, French Painting (Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1931), p. 262.
Daniel Catton Rich, “Französische Impressionisten im Art Institute zu Chicago,” Pantheon: Monatsschrift für Freunde und Sammler der Kunst 11, 3 (Mar. 1933), p. 78. Translated by C. C. H. Drechsel as “French Impressionists in the Art Institute of Chicago,” Pantheon/Cicerone (Mar. 1933), p. 18.
Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of “A Century of Progress”: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 1934, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), p. 39, cat. 229.
Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, The Art of Renoir (Minton, Balch, 1935), pp. 77; 78; 455, no. 139.
Ambroise Vollard, En écoutant Cézanne, Degas, Renoir (Bernard Grasset, 1938), p. 193.
Institute of Modern Art, The Sources of Modern Painting: A Loan Exhibition Assembled from American Public and Private Collections, exh. cat. (Wildenstein and Co., 1939), p. 22, cat. 5 (ill.).
Reginald Howard Wilenski, Modern French Painters (Reynal & Hitchcook, [1940]), p. 340.
Michel Drucker, Renoir, with a preface by Germain Bazin (Pierre Tisné, 1944), p. 186.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), pp. 397–98.
François Daulte, Auguste Renoir: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. 1, Figures, 1860–1890 (Durand-Ruel, 1971), pp. 298–99, cat. 433 (ill.).
Elda Fezzi, L’opera completa di Renoir: Nel periodo impressionista, 1869–1883, Classici dell’arte 59 (Rizzoli, 1972), pp. 84; 113; 114, cat. 559 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), pl. 8; pp. 15; 100; 118–19, cat 45 (ill.); 182; 202; 208 (detail); 209 (detail); 211; 214.
Barbara Ehrlich White, “The Bathers of 1887 and Renoir’s Anti-Impressionism,” Art Bulletin 55, 1 (Mar. 1973), p. 122.
Wildenstein, Renoir: The Gentle Rebel; A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Association for Mentally Ill Children, with a foreword by François Daulte, exh. cat. (Wildenstein, 1974), cat. 26 (ill.).
J. Patrice Marandel, The Art Institute of Chicago: Favorite Impressionist Paintings (Crown, 1979), pp. 74–75 (ill.).
Sophie Monneret, L’impressionnisme et son époque: Dictionnaire international illustré, vol. 1 (Denoël, 1979), p. 138.
Sophie Monneret, L’impressionnisme et son époque: Dictionnaire international illustré, vol. 2 (Denoël, 1979), pp. 173, 175.
Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (Abbeville, 1980), pp. 256 (ill.), 438.
Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism, Tiny Folios (Abbeville, 1980), p. 163, pl. 22.
Barbara Ehrlich White, Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters (Abrams, 1984), pp. 126, 129, 132 (ill.), 298.
Hayward Gallery, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Renoir, exh. cat. (Arts Council of Great Britain, 1985), pp. 113, cat. 70 (ill.); 221; 238, cat. 70 (ill.); 301.
Hayward Gallery, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Renoir, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1985), pp. 176; 224–25, cat. 69 (ill.); 380.
Anne Distel, “Charles Deudon (1832–1914) collectionneur,” Revue de l’art 86 (1989), p. 62, n. 2.
Raffaele De Grada, Renoir (Giorgio Mondadori, 1989), p. 15.
Sophie Monneret, Renoir, Profils de l’art (Chêne, 1989), p. 154, fig. 7.
Nicholas Wadley, ed., Renoir: A Retrospective (Hugh Lauter Levin/Macmillan, 1987), pp. 158, 161, 162 (ill.).
Christie’s, New York, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, pt. 2, sale cat. (Christie’s, New York, Nov. 11, 1997), p. 44 (ill.).
Douglas W. Druick, Renoir, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1997), pp. 56; 57–59; 60; 96, pl. 15 (ill.); 110.
Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada/Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 202–03, cat. 46 (ill.); 204; 316–17, cat. 46; 319, n. 10. Translated by Danielle Chaput and Julie Desgagné, with support from Nada Kerpan for the texts by Linda Nochlin, as Les portraits de Renoir: Impressions d’une époque, exh. cat. (Gallimard/Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada, 1997), pp. 202–03, cat. 46 (ill.); 204; 316–17, cat. 46; 319, n. 10.
Colin B. Bailey, “Portrait of the Artist as a Portrait Painter,” in Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada/Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 8, 19. Translated as Colin B. Bailey, “Portrait de l’artiste en portraitiste,” in Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Les portraits de Renoir: Impressions d’une époque, trans. Danielle Chaput and Julie Desgagné, exh. cat. (Gallimard/Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada, 1997), pp. 11, 19.
Anne Distel, “Léon Clapisson: Patron and Collector,” in Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada/Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 77; 78, cat. 46 (ill.); 80; 85, n. 33. Translated as Anne Distel, “Portrait de Monsieur Clapisson en mécène,” in Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Les portraits de Renoir: Impressions d’une époque, trans. Danielle Chaput and Julie Desgagné, exh. cat. (Gallimard/Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada, 1997), pp. 77; 78, cat. 46 (ill.); 80; 86, n. 33.
Anne Distel, “Appendix II: The Notebooks of Léon Clapisson,” in Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada/Yale University Press, 1997), p. 354. Translated as Anne Distel, “Annexe II: Les carnets de Léon Clapisson,” in Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Les portraits de Renoir: Impressions d’une époque, trans. Danielle Chaput and Julie Desgagné, exh. cat. (Gallimard/Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada, 1997), p. 354.
Sona Johnston, with the assistance of Susan Bollendorf, Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections, exh. cat. (Baltimore Museum of Art/Rizzoli, 1999), p. 25.
Gilles Néret, Renoir: Painter of Happiness, 1841–1919, trans. Josephine Bacon (Taschen, 2001), pp. 207, 210–11 (ill.), 432.
Anne E. Dawson, Idol of the Moderns: Pierre-August Renoir and American Painting, exh. cat. (San Diego Museum of Art, 2002), pp. 22, no. 3 (ill.); 72.
Christie’s, London, Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, sale cat. (Christie’s, London, June 24, 2003), p. 68, fig. 3.
Christie’s, London, Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, sale cat. (Christie’s, London, Feb. 2, 2004), p. 26, fig. 1 (ill.).
Aviva Burnstock, Klaas Jan van den Berg, and John House, “Painting Techniques of Pierre-Auguste Renoir: 1868–1919,” Art Matters: Netherlandish Technical Studies in Art 3 (2005), p. 52.
Robert McDonald Parker, “Topographical Chronology 1860–1883,” in Renoir Landscapes, 1865–1883, ed. Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle, exh. cat. (National Gallery, London, 2007), p. 278. Translated as Robert McDonald Parker, “Chronologie,” in Les paysages de Renoir, 1865–1883, ed. Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle, trans. Marie-Françoise Dispa, Lise-Éliane Pomier, and Laura Meijer, exh. cat. (National Gallery, London/5 Continents, 2007), p. 279.
Tamar Garb, The Painted Face: Portraits of Women in France, 1814–1914 (Yale University Press, 2007), p. 32, pl. 28.
Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 77; 78, cat. 31 (ill.); 83. Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 77; 78, cat. 31 (ill.); 83.
Anne Distel, Renoir (Citadelles & Mazenod, 2009), pp. 178, ill. 164; 182–83; 186; 240; 380–81.
Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. 2, 1882–1894 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2009), p. 242, cat. 1065 (ill.).
John House, The Genius of Renoir: Paintings from the Clark, with an essay by James A. Ganz, exh. cat. (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute/Museo Nacional del Prado/Yale University Press, 2010), p. 77.
Julie L’Enfant, Pioneer Modernists: Minnesota’s First Generation of Women Artists (Afton, 2011), p. 161 (ill.).
Colin B. Bailey, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting, exh. cat. (Frick Collection/Yale University Press, 2012), pp. 168; 170, fig. 2.
“Cat. 17: Madame Léon Clapisson, 1883,” in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), https://publications.artic.edu/renoir/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/138973.
Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Rojo mexicano: la grana cochinilla en el arte, exh. cat. Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes/ Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, 2017), p. 56, cat. 43, 57, 379.
Elisabeth Malkin, “When Europe’s Art Turned Red: A Mexico City Exhibition Celebrates a Dye Made from Cochineal Insects. It Changed the Colors in Paintings,” New York Times, November 28, 2017, ill.

Paris, Palais des Champs-Élysées, Société des Artistes Français, Salon, May 1–June, 1883, cat. 2031, as Portrait de Mme C… .
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 5e exposition internationale de peinture et de sculpture, June 15–July 15, 1886, cat. 125, as Portrait de Mme C. Appartient à M. Clapisson.
Paris, Durand-Ruel, Tableaux par Monet, C. Pissarro, Renoir, et Sisley, June 1–30, 1910, cat. 43, as Portrait de Mme C. 1883.
Possibly New York, Durand-Ruel, Exhibition of Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 14–Mar. 16, 1912, cat. 7, as Jeune femme à l’éventail, 1883.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture for 1934, June 1–Oct. 31, 1934, cat. 229.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, The Sources of Modern Painting: A Loan Exhibition Assembled from American Public and Private Collections, Mar. 2–Apr. 9, 1939; New York, Wildenstein, Apr. 25–May 20, 1939, cat. 5 (ill.) (New York only).
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3–Apr. 1, 1973, cat. 45 (ill.).
New York, Wildenstein, Renoir: The Gentle Rebel; A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Association for Mentally Ill Children, Oct. 24–Nov. 30, 1974, cat. 26 (ill.).
London, Hayward Gallery, Renoir, Jan. 30–Apr. 21, 1985, cat. 70 (ill.); Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, May 14–Sept. 2, 1985, cat. 69 (ill.); Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Oct. 9, 1985–Jan. 5, 1986.
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, June 27–Sept. 14, 1997, cat. 46 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 17, 1997–Jan. 4, 1998; Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, Feb. 8–Apr. 26, 1998.
San Diego Museum of Art, Idol of the Moderns: Pierre-Auguste Renoir and American Painting, June 29–Sept. 15, 2002, cat. 3 (ill.); El Paso (Tex.) Museum of Art, Nov. 3, 2002–Feb. 16, 2003.
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 31 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Renoir’s True Colors: Science Solves a Mystery, Feb. 12 - April 27, 2014, no cat.
Mexico City, El Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Rojo mexicano: la grana cochinilla en el arte [Mexican Red: Cochineal and its Use by the Great Painters], Nov. 10, 2017-Feb. 4, 2018, cat. 43.

Commissioned by Louis Léon Clapisson (husband of sitter), Neuilly, for 3,000 francs [per Bailey 1997]; by descent to Marie Henriette Valentine Billet Clapisson (wife), Neuilly, 1894; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, November 12, 1908, for 15,000 francs [per Distel, “Appendix II: The Notebooks of Léon Clapisson,” Bailey 1997]. Durand-Ruel, New York, by July 8, 1913; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, July 8, 1913, for $12,000 [per purchase receipt on Durand-Ruel letterhead, dated July 8, 1913, records that this painting (no. 3422, as Portrait de Mme Clapisson, 1883) was sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to Martin A. Ryerson for $12,000; photocopy in curatorial object file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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