The indolent, cloistered lives of prostitutes were the subject of some of Lautrec’s most powerful works. He made about fifty paintings depicting them, as well as numerous drawings and prints, including a suite of color lithographs, Elles, which was completed the year before this painting. Lautrec does not flatter the woman’s naked figure, nor does he divulge the expression she sees in her mirror: she appears simply to be taking a stark appraisal of herself.
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Title:Woman before a Mirror
Artist:Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, Albi 1864–1901 Saint-André-du-Bois)
Date:1897
Medium:Oil on cardboard
Dimensions:24 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (62.2 x 47 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
Accession Number:2003.20.15
Inscription: Signed and dated (upper left): HTLautrec [HTL in monogram] '97
Maurice Joyant, Paris (by 1914–at least 1926); Mme Maurice Georges Dortu, Le Vésinet (by 1931–48; sold on February 24, 1948 to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, New York, 1948–51, sold on May 4, 1951 to Haupt]; Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt, New York (1951–his d. 1963); Mrs. Enid A. Haupt, New York (1963–83; sold in 1983 to Annenberg); her brother and his wife, Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1983–his d. 2002)
Paris. Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées. "Salon d'automne," October 15–November 15, 1904, no. 6 (as "Devant la glace," possibly this picture).
Paris. Galerie Manzi, Joyant. "Exposition rétrospective de l'œuvre de H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)," June 15–July 11, 1914, no. 74 (as "Rousse nue devant sa glace," lent by M. M. J.).
Paris. Musée des Arts Décoratifs. "Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec," April 9–May 17, 1931, no. 164 (as "Femme nue devant sa glace," lent by Madame D.).
London. M. Knoedler & Co. "Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings and Drawings," January 19–February 2, 1938, no. 28 (as "Femme nue devant la glace," lent by Mme Dortu, Le Vésinet).
Paris. M. Knoedler & Co. "Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901," March 1938, no. 36 (as "Femme nue devant la glace," lent by Madame Dortu).
Amsterdam. Stedelijk Museum. "Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec," July–August 1947, no. 49 (as "Naakte vrouw voor de spiegel").
Brussels. Palais des Beaux-Arts. "Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)," September–November 1947, no. 49 (as "Femme nue devant son miroir," lent by a private collection).
New York. Wildenstein. "Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections," November 8–December 15, 1951, no. 60 (as "In Front of the Wardrobe Mirror," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from Private Collections," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 149 (as "Nude before a Mirror," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters, and Lithographs," March 20–May 6, 1956, no. 39 (as "Nude before a Mirror," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt, New York).
New York. Wildenstein. "Nude in Painting," November 1–December 1, 1956, no. 37 (as "Woman in Front of a Mirror," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt).
New York. Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. "Festival of Art," October 29–November 1, 1957, no. 173 [see Rishel 1991].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 1–September 1, 1958, no. 135 (as "Woman before a Mirror," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt).
New York. Wildenstein. "Toulouse-Lautrec," February 7–March 14, 1964, no. 47 (as "Nude before a Mirror," lent anonymously).
New York. Wildenstein. "Olympia's Progeny," October 28–November 27, 1965, no. 79 (as "Nu devant le Miroir," lent by Mrs. Enid A. Haupt).
New York. M. Knoedler & Co. "Impressionist Treasures from Private Collections in New York," January 12–29, 1966, no. 38 (as "Nude in Front of a Mirror," lent by Enid A. Haupt).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Toulouse-Lautrec in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 2–September 29, 1996, unnumbered cat. (fig. 60).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," February 28–June 3, 2012, not in catalogue.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Gustave Coquiot. Lautrec, ou quinze ans de mœurs parisiennes, 1885–1900. Paris, 1921, p. 210.
Maurice Joyant. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901. Vol. 1, Peintre. Paris, 1926, p. 294, ill. between pp. 48–49 (color), as in the collection of M. Joyant.
Emile Schaub-Koch. Psychanalyse d'un peintre moderne: Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. Paris, 1935, p. 191.
Jacques Lassaigne. Toulouse-Lautrec. London, 1939, ill. p. 132, as in the collection of Mme Dortu.
R. H. Wilenski. Modern French Painters. New York, [1940], p. 359.
Pierre Mac Orlan. Lautrec, peintre de la lumière froide. Paris, 1941, ill. opp. p. 113 (color).
Jacques Lassaigne. Lautrec. Geneva, 1953, p. 98, states that Lautrec made a series of large nudes, using a red-headed model standing before a mirror.
B. H. Friedman. "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions." Burlington Magazine 98 (June 1956), p. 212.
Douglas Cooper. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. New York, 1956, pp. 142–44, ill. (color), comments that among Lautrec's oeuvre "it is almost the only one in which the unpleasantness of the subject is underlined and tinged with bitterness"; discusses its dark tonality and decreasing importance of line as indications of Lautrec's later, more painterly style.
Denys Sutton. Lautrec. New York, 1962, pp. 21, 40, colorpl. XXXVII and ill. on back cover (color).
Jean Bouret. Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris, [1963], ill. p. 244 (color).
Kermit S[wiler]. Champa. Olympia's Progeny. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 1965, unpaginated, fig. 79.
Fritz Neugass. "Manet's 'Olympia' und ihre Folgen." Weltkunst 36 (January 1966), p. 8, ill.
Fritz Novotny. Toulouse-Lautrec. London, 1969, p. 193, no. 91, fig. 91.
M. G. Dortu. Toulouse-Lautrec et son œuvre. New York, 1971, vol. 3, pp. 300–301, no. P.637, ill.
Philippe Huisman and M. G. Dortu. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Milan, 1971, ill. p. 80.
G. M. Sugana inThe Complete Paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec. London, 1973, p. 117, no. 471, ill.
Naomi E. Maurer inToulouse-Lautrec: Paintings. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1979, p. 325.
Naomi E. Maurer and Charles F. Stuckey inToulouse-Lautrec: Paintings. Ed. Charles F. Stuckey. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, [1979], p. 297.
Matthias Arnold. "Das Theater des Lebens." Weltkunst 52 (February 15, 1982), p. 305.
Matthias Arnold. "Toulouse-Lautrec und die alten Meister." Weltkunst 55 (August 1, 1985), p. 2180 n. 12.
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Colin B. Bailey, Joseph J. Rishel, and Mark Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. ix, 66–67, 174, ill. (color and black and white).
Lesley Stevenson. H. de Toulouse Lautrec. London, 1991, pp. 138–39, 147, 151, ill. (color).
Bernard Denvir. Toulouse-Lautrec. London, 1991, pp. 163, 214, fig. 134, mentions the influence of Manet's "Nana" (1876–77; Kunsthalle Hamburg) on this work.
Jérôme Coignard. "Le Salon de peinture de Mr. et Mrs. Annenberg." Beaux arts no. 92 (July–August 1991), p. 72.
Gilles Néret. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864–1901. Ed. Ingo F. Walther. New York, 1995, pp. 145–47, ill. p. 160 (color) [German ed., 1994].
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 505, ill.
Colta Ives. Toulouse-Lautrec in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 23, 61, fig. 60 (color).
Ira Berkow. "Jewels in the Desert." Art News 97 (May 1998), p. 146.
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein and Asher Ethan Miller. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 252–56, no. 47, ill. (color).
R[ichard]. S[hone]. "Supplement: Acquisitions (2000–10) of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York." Burlington Magazine 152 (December 2010), p. 842, fig. X (color).
Rebecca Rabinow inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, p. 26, colorpl. 5.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, Albi 1864–1901 Saint-André-du-Bois)
1898
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