id: 153123 accession number: 1986.130 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1986.130 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:58.541000 Female Nude, 1891. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824–1898). Black chalk; sheet: 37.3 x 21.6 cm (14 11/16 x 8 1/2 in.); secondary support: 45.9 x 27.2 cm (18 1/16 x 10 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. E. A. Guerber in memory of Louise G. Burroughs 1986.130 title: Female Nude title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1891 creation date earliest: 1891 creation date latest: 1891 current location: creditline: Gift of Mrs. E. A. Guerber in memory of Louise G. Burroughs copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: black chalk department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824–1898) - artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was born into a bourgeois family. His father intended his son to enroll at the École Polytechnique in Paris. After a prolonged illness, however, Puvis instead entered the Faculté de Droit. He became interested in art during a trip to Italy in 1846, and the following year he began studying with Henri Scheffer (1798-1862). Puvis returned to Italy in 1848 with Louis Bauderon de Vermeron (1809-1870), where he became interested in the art of mural painting. He entered the atelier of Delacroix (q.v.) for only two weeks, and later that of Couture (q.v.) for three months. Yet, Puvis's chief method of study was to work independently after live models. He was accepted in the Salon of 1850, but his submissions from 1852 through 1859 were rejected. In 1854-55 he decorated the dining room at his brother's country house, Le Brouchy, near Cuiseaux. He won a second-class medal at the Salon of 1861 for Concordia (Musée de Picardie, Amiens), which was purchased by the state. Inspired by the frescoes of Pompeii and by Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross in Arezzo, Puvis pursued his interest in mural painting with great success. He received commissions to create works for the Palais des Arts in Lyons, the Pantheon and the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, the Boston Public Library, and many others. The artist strove to integrate his mural paintings with the surrounding architecture and to maintain the integrity of the flat wall surface by using broad areas of subdued color. In 1890, together with Meissonier (q.v.) and Rodin (1840-1917), Puvis founded the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, as a more progressive alternative for the regular Salon. Puvis's art had a significant impact on later artists, particularly the symbolists. --- measurements: Sheet: 37.3 x 21.6 cm (14 11/16 x 8 1/2 in.); Secondary Support: 45.9 x 27.2 cm (18 1/16 x 10 11/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: yellow-brown tracing paper laid down on gray-blue wove board watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: lower right, in graphite: [C ?] ; VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, lower left, in graphite: Quinn sale Feb 10(?) 1927 / Drwg from portfolio 404 bought by AB Davies [parentheses part of inscription] ; lower right, in graphite: 404/2[5?] ; ON SEPARATELY APPLIED PIECE OF PAPER, verso of secondary support, upper center, printed in brown ink on green paper: DURAND-RUEL / PARIS, 18 Rue Laffitte / NEW-YORK, 389, Fifth avenue / P. de Chavannes [inscribed in brown ink] No 6500 [6500 inscribed in brown ink] / Etude. [inscribed in brown ink] ; ON SEPARATELY APPLIED PIECE OF PAPER, verso of secondary support, upper right, in brown ink on pink paper: Chavannes No [No printed in black ink] 2432 [partially masked] / Etude translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review for 1986 opening date: 1987-02-04T05:00:00 Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'CMA, The Year in Review for 1986 (Feb. 4-Mar. 15, 1987), cma Bulletin 74 (1987), pp. 72-3 no. 176.', 'opening_date': '1987-02-04T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE estate of the artist, Paris (Lugt 2104, upper right, in black ink). [Durand-Ruel & Sons, Paris and New York] (according to label of verso of secondary support and Quinn sale cat.); John Quinn (not stamped, not in Lugt); [his sale, New York, American Art Association, Inc., 9-11 Feb. 1927, lot 404] (photocopy of cat. in departmental file); A.B. Davies (according to inscription on verso of secondary support) date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1986.130/1986.130_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1986.130/1986.130_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1986.130/1986.130_full.tif