Sketchbook

Prints and Drawings

June 1883–September 1887

Gustave Caillebotte
French, 1848–1894

In 1881 Gustave Caillebotte purchased a home near Argenteuil, then a rural town on the outskirts of Paris, with his brother Martial, and this led to a notable decrease in his artistic productivity. Caillebotte’s “lost years” coincide with the use of this sketchbook.

The subjects of the drawings in the book—panoramic views, portraits, intimate garden scenes, details of trees and architecture, and copies after other works—reflect Caillebotte’s shift away from his earlier depictions of urban Parisians. None are studies for later works; instead this sketchbook is more experimental, as Caillebotte focused on developing his use of watercolor and drawing out of doors.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Gustave Caillebotte
Title: Sketchbook
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.: 1883–1887
Medium: Sketchbook containing 40 drawings: 30 in graphite, 7 in watercolor over graphite, and 3 in graphite and brush and gray wash, on 40 sheets of cream wove paper bound in brown cloth
Inscriptions: Signed and inscribed inside front cover, upper left corner: “du / p. 75 (?) G. Caillebotte”
Dimensions: Sheets: 11.4 × 19.5 cm (4 1/2 × 7 11/16 in.); Sketchbook: 12.5 × 20.3 × 1.5 cm (4 15/16 × 8 × 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Margaret Day Blake Fund
Reference Number: 2011.85
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/208200/manifest.json

Christopher Lloyd, “An Unknown Sketchbook by Gustave Caillebotte,” Master Drawings XXVI:2 (Summer 1988), pp. 107–118, figs. 1, 19, pls. 1–25.
“Cat. 4: Sketchbook,” in Caillebotte Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Genevieve Westerby (Art Institute of Chicago, 2015). https://publications.artic.edu/caillebotte/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/574/574_anchor

Paris, Brame et Lorenceau, “Gustave Caillebotte, 1848–1894: Dessins, pastels et peintures,” Oct. 15–Nov. 27, 1998, cat. 66 (ill.).
Lausanne, Fondation de l’Hermitage, “Caillebotte: Au coeur de l’impressionisme,” June 24–Oct. 23, 2005, cat. 59 (ill).
Art Institute of Chicago, “Master Drawings Unveiled: 25 Years of Major Acquisitions,” August 27, 2016–January 29, 2017, no cat.

Sold to Ellen Josefowitz, Lausanne, Switzerland, by 1991; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2011.

Cat. 4 Sketchbook, June 1883–September 1887

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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. Learn more.

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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.

Learn more.