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Frédéric Bazille

Edmond Maître, 1869

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 83 × 64.2 cm (32 11/16 × 25 1/4 in.)

framed: 109.2 x 90.2 x 8.9 cm (43 x 35 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Accession Number

1985.64.2

Artists / Makers

Frédéric Bazille (artist) French, 1841 - 1870

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

upper left: F. Bazille. 1869

Provenance

The sitter, Edmond Maître [d. 1898]; his brother, Léon Maître.[1] André Bazille, nephew of artist, from at least 1935 until 1941; Mme Rachou-Bazille, in 1959.[2] (Wildenstein, London, New York and Paris); sold August 1960 to Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA;[3] gift 1985 to NGA.

[1]See Michel Schulman, Frédéric Bazille, 1841-1870, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1995, no. 48. [2] Lent by André Bazille to exhibitions in Paris in 1935 and 1937 and in Montpellier in 1941. Lent by Mme Rachou-Bazille to exhibition in Montpellier in 1959. [2]Acquisition date and source according to Paul Mellon records in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bazille, André
Maître, Edmond
Maître, Léon
Mellon, Paul
Rachou-Bazille, Mme
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1935: Frederic Bazille, Association des Etudiants Protestants de Paris, Paris, 1935, no. 6, repro.

1937: Chefs d'oeuvres de l'art français, Palais National des Arts, Paris, 1937, no. 240

1941: Centenaire de Frédéric Bazille, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 1941, no. 29

1950: Bazille, Wildenstein, Paris, 1950, no. 50

1952: Cent portraits d'hommes du XVIe siècle a nos jours, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1952, no. 1

1959: Frédéric Bazille, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 1959, no. 34

1962: Artmobile II ("Twelve Portraits: Delacroix to Gauguin"), sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1962, no. 11

1962: Delacroix to Gauguin: Ten Portraits, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1962

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 111, repro.

1978: Frederic Bazille and Early Impressionism, Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, no. 37, repro.

1986: Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 38, repro.

1992: Frédéric Bazille et Ses Amis Impressionnistes, Pavillon du musée Fabre, Montpelier, France; Brooklyn Museum; Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, 1992-1993, no. 23, repro.

1999: Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 22, repro.

2003: Frédéric Bazille, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, 2003-2004, no. 21, repro.

2011: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, no. 1, repro.

2016: Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) and The Birth of Impressionism, Musée Fabre, Montpelier; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016-2017, no. 51, repro.

Technical Summary

With similar upper-class upbringings and a common interest in the arts—especially a shared passion for music—Frédéric Bazille and Edmond Maître became fast friends after meeting in Paris in 1865.

Dissatisfied with a frontal, bust-length portrait he had made of Maître as part of a larger composition two years earlier, Bazille adopted a different approach for this more intimate depiction of his friend as a quintessential dilettante. Seen in full profile, with his body turned at an angle relative to the placement of the chair, Maître has just a hint of a slouch as he peers down at the book resting open in his lap. Absorbed in his reading, he is careless of the cigar slowly burning to ash in his right hand. Elegantly but somewhat unconventionally attired, Maître’s warm brown trousers and dark blue, dotted, silk tie counterbalance the severity of his black jacket. A sprig of violets tucked into his lapel adds a note of color to the otherwise somber composition.

Bibliography

1966: Goldwater, Robert. "The Glory that was France." Art News 65 (March 1966): 42.

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 38, repro.

1992: Daulte, François. Frédéric Bazille et les débuts de l'impressionisme. Paris, 1992:no. 52, repro.

1993: Bajou, Valérie. Frédéric Bazille 1841-1870. Aix-en-Provence, 1993:139-140, repro. 155

1995: Schulman, Michel. Frédéric Bazille 1841-1870: Catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1995:no. 48, repro.

1998: Pitman, Dianne W. Bazille: Purity, Pose, and Painting in the 1860s. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998: 185-187, repro. no. 123.