id: 166868 accession number: 2009.116 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2009.116 updated: 2025-02-09 06:30:23.554000 Portrait of Jean Ajalbert, c. 1893. Eugène Carrière (French, 1849–1906). Charcoal with white chalk; sheet: 27.4 x 23.7 cm (10 13/16 x 9 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2009.116 title: Portrait of Jean Ajalbert title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1893 creation date earliest: 1890 creation date latest: 1900 current location: creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: charcoal with white chalk department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: Lugt 434 & Lugt 434a --- CREATORS * Eugène Carrière (French, 1849–1906) - artist Eugène Carrière grew up in Strasbourg, the sixth of seven children in a working-class family. He attended the city's academy in 1862 and two years later worked as a commercial lithographer. In 1869 Carrière moved to Paris, where he discovered the art of the Old Masters, Rubens in particular, which influenced his decision to become an artist. He entered the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under one of the foremost academic painters, Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889). His training was suspended, however, with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Shortly after enlisting, he was captured by the Germans and taken to Dresden where he was held prisoner for one year. At the end of the war he returned to Paris to resume his studies under Cabanel, and to support himself he worked for a lithographer friend, Jules Chéret (1836-1932). Carrière's painting career took off slowly, and in the Salons of 1876, 1877, and 1878 his paintings received little recognition. In 1878 he married Sophie Desmonceaux (with whom he would have seven children), and the couple spent six months in London where he discovered the works of Turner (q.v.). Back in Paris, he spent the next decade working odd jobs, most often in printshops in order to sustain his family. Through his brother, a ceramist, Carrière began working in 1880 for the Sèvres porcelain factory and there met sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). This friendly and steady associ-ation inspired each artist's work. In 1879 Carrière had painted his first maternité entitled Jeune mère (Musée Calvet, Avignon), a subject to which he would return throughout his career. His success as a painter began at the Salon of 1884 when his entry received an honorable mention. His good fortune continued with awards at the Salons of 1885 and 1887. Two years later, a medal at the Universal Exposition and the Legion of Honor indicated how well his work was received by critics, artists, and writers. From 1890 through 1897, Carrière lived his most fruitful years as an artist, began making lithographs, and frequently traveled abroad. He was connected with most of the important critics and avant-garde artists of the time, such as Bonnard (q.v.), Gauguin (q.v.), Vuillard (q.v.), Maurice Denis (1870-1943), and Paul Sérusier (1864-1927). He was also admired by the symbolists for the dreamlike quality of his paintings. In 1890 he associated himself with Meissonier (q.v.), Rodin, Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914), and Puvis de Chavannes (q.v.), who founded the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in opposition to the official system of the Salon des Artistes Français. In 1903, in an effort to oppose restrictive rules of the Société Nationale, Carrière established a new salon, the Salon d'Automne, and was named its president. --- measurements: Sheet: 27.4 x 23.7 cm (10 13/16 x 9 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: blue laid paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: inscribed in brown ink, lower right: "Eugène Carrière" (estate stamp) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Collection of Drawings lent by Mr. and Mrs. Anson C. Goodyear. The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Buffalo, New York (September 29-October 21, 1923).', 'opening_date': '1923-09-29T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Non-Dissenters: Fifth Exhibition Marking Our Tenth Anniversary. Shepherd Gallery, New York (November 1-December 31, 1976).', 'opening_date': '1976-11-01T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE (Manzi, Joyant & Cie, Paris, Carrière Atelier sale, Feb. 2-3, 1920, no. 168) date: 1920 footnotes: citations: Anson Conger Goodyear [1877-1964], Buffalo, New York date: By 1923-1928 footnotes: citations: (Anderson Galleries, New York, Goodyear collection sale, Feb. 16, 1928, no. 14) date: 1928 footnotes: citations: (Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH) date: ?-1976 footnotes: citations: Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1976-2009 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2009- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Galerie Manzi, Joyant & Cie, Paris. Catalogue des Tableaux, Dessins, Lithographies provenant de l'atelier d'Eugène Carrière. February 2-3, 1920. Lot 168. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 168 url: A Collection of Drawings Lent by Mr. and Mrs. Anson C. Goodyear. Buffalo, NY: The Buffalo Fine Art Academy, 1923. page number: Mentioned: p. 3, no. 15 url: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, "Collection of Drawings Lent to the Albright Art Gallery By Mr. and Mrs. Anson C. Goodyear," Academy Notes, vol. XVIII, no. 2 (July-December, 1923): 58-61. page number: Mentioned: p. 61; Reproduced: p. 58 url: Anderson Galleries, New York. Modern Art: Drawings, Lithographs, Etchings & Woodcuts from the Collection of A.C. Goodyear Buffalo, N.Y.. February 16, 1928. Lot 14. page number: Mentioned: no. 14 url: Shepherd Gallery. Non-Dissenters: One Hundred and Seventy French Nineteenth Century Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1976. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 36 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2009.116/2009.116_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2009.116/2009.116_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2009.116/2009.116_full.tif