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Works from the 1890s

  • Black chalk drawing of a figure on a rearing horse

    Edgar Degas (1834–1917) 
    Jockey on a Rearing Horse, 1890s
    Black chalk and pastel on cream wove paper
    9 3/16 x 14 3/16 in. (23.3 x 36 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1955.1399 

    Horseracing was a favorite subject of Degas’s. In this later exploration of the theme, Degas gives emphasis to the arrangement of the rearing horse’s head and front legs, seemingly caught in motion. His vigorous execution captures the musculature of the animal and the sheen of its coat. 

  • Charcoal drawing of woman standing in a bathtub

    Edgar Degas (1834–1917) 
    Woman Standing in a Bathtub, c. 1890–92
    Charcoal with stumping on beige wove paper
    17 x 11 5/8 in. (43.2 x 29.5 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1955.1394

    This vigorously executed drawing of a woman absorbed in the intimate act of bathing, seemingly unaware of artist or viewer, is one of several of Degas’s late reprisals of the academic nudes he drew as a student. 

  • Charcoal drawing of standing nude female figure

    Edgar Degas (1834–1917) 
    After the Bath, c. 1891–92
    Charcoal with stumping on beige wove paper
    14 x 9 3/4 in. (35.5 x 24.8 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1955.1408

    An example of Degas’s rethinking of the classical subject of the bather, this sheet exhibits the confident, animated draftsmanship of the mature artist. 

  • Print of three figures in a field with house in background
    Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) 
    Peasant Women Weeding the Grass, c. 1894
    Etching printed in blue, red, yellow, and black on cream laid paper
    Sheet: 6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.91
     

    In this late work — a proof impression with the artist’s own notations on the sheet — Pissarro renders simplified forms with strong outlines, color contrasts, and minimal detail. 

  • Print of two girls in large hats

    Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) 
    Pinning the Hat: Second Plate, c. 1898
    Lithograph printed in black, gray, orange, green, mustard, rust, and pink on cream laid paper
    Sheet: 35 5/8 x 24 9/16 in. (90.5 x 62.3 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.99 

    Renoir’s interest in printmaking late in his career coincided with the popularization of color lithography as a fine-art medium. For this print, Renoir worked with crayons directly on the lithographic stones, replicating the soft, powdery qualities of his pastels. 

  • Print of four nude male figures in landscape

    Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) 
    The Bathers: Large Plate, 1898
    Lithograph printed in black, green, yellow-green, orange, gray, blue, and purple-blue on cream laid paper
    Sheet: 19 x 24 13/16 in. (48.3 x 63.1 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.26

    Working in collaboration with a professional printer, Cézanne reproduced the composition of one of his most famous paintings, Bathers at Rest (1876–77, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia) in the widely circulating medium of color lithography. The distribution of blues, greens, and the cream tone of the paper creates a vivid sense of dappled light. 

  • Print of two embracing seated figures

    Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) 
    Te Faruru (Here We Make Love), from Noa Noa, Winter 1893–94
    Woodcut printed in black, light brown, yellow, and red on cream wove paper, mounted on beige cardboard
    Sheet: 14 1/8 x 8 1/16 in. (35.9 x 20.5 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.70

    This woodcut and three others in this exhibition are from a famous series known as Noa Noa (meaning “fragrant scent” in Tahitian), inspired by Gauguin’s stay in Tahiti from 1891 to 1893. The networks of white lines scratched into and gouged out of the hard surface of boxwood are characteristic of Gauguin’s woodcut technique. In this work, they impart a spectral quality to the entwined bodies of the lovers who emerge out of the darkness of night. 

  • Print of central seated deity flanked by other gods

    Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) 
    Te Atua (The Gods), from Noa Noa, Winter 1893–94
    Woodcut printed in black, brown, orange, red, and green on cream wove paper, mounted on beige cardboard
    Sheet: 8 1/8 x 14 1/16 in. (20.6 x 35.7 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.73

    In this frieze-like composition, a Javanese Buddha figure at center is flanked at left by two Tahitian gods: Hina, goddess of the moon, and her son Fatu, god of the earth. Above the central figure, the artist’s deep gouging into the woodblock creates an aura of pulsating light. 

  • Print of a woman curled up and lying down

    Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) 
    Manao Tupapau (Watched by the Spirits of the Dead), from Noa Noa, Spring/summer 1894
    Woodcut printed in yellow, orange, and black on beige wove paper
    Sheet: 9 13/16 x 15 ¾ in. (25 x 40 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1981.152

    In this reinterpretation of one of his most famous paintings, Gauguin presents a nude in a pose that suggests both birth and death. Two spirits in the background at right watch over her ominously. 

  • Print of standing nude female figure in landscape

    Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) 
    Nave Nave Fenua (Delightful Land), from Noa Noa, Spring/summer 1894
    Woodcut printed in black, dark orange, and yellow, with stencils in red, on beige wove paper
    Sheet: 15 11/16 x 9 3/16 in. (39.3 x 23.3 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.72

    The warm tones in this image of a figure in a lush landscape — a Polynesian Eve — are an exception to the prevalence of black throughout the series.  

  • Color print of a man and two women in conversation

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge, 1892
    Lithograph printed in black, green, gray, blue, orange-red, and yellow on cream laid paper
    Sheet: 23 1/2 x 18 1/16 in. (59.7 x 45.9 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1968.17

    To contemporary viewers, Toulouse-Lautrec’s inclusion of recognizable figures in his scenes of famous Parisian nightspots added another level of interest. The cropping of the image enhances the sense of immediacy by bringing the viewer into the conversation between the two protagonists. The man’s inclined posture and leering expression make clear the nature of their exchange. 

  • Print of a woman dancing in a voluminous dress

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    Miss Loïe Fuller, 1893
    Lithograph printed in blue-gray, brown-aubergine, and yellow, touched with gold and silver powder on cream wove paper
    Sheet: 15 1/16 x 11 1/16 in. (38.2 x 28 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.105

    In this highly experimental lithograph, the sequential movement of Loïe Fuller’s famous stage performance in a voluminous transparent garment manipulated by long poles is captured in a swelling form that approaches abstraction. The addition of gold and silver dust to the print enhances the ethereal effect.  

  • Color print of woman in profile with hair ornaments

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, Bust-Length, 1895
    Lithograph printed in brown-green, yellow, red, dark pink, green, blue, gray, and yellow-green on cream wove paper
    Sheet: 19 9/16 x 14 ¾ in (49.6 x 37.5 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1955.1442

    This actress and dancer — a late-life passion of the artist’s — appears in many of his works, most famously dancing the bolero. The color harmonies that set off her vivid orange hair, pale powdered face, and décolletage in this close-up portrait reveal Lautrec’s tenderness for his subject. 

  • Color print of a woman, seen from behind, letting down her hair

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)
    Frontispiece from Elles, 1896
    Lithograph printed in olive green, blue, and orange on cream wove paper
    20 11/16 x 15 13/16 in. (52.5 x 40.2 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.107

    A monument in modern printmaking, Toulouse-Lautrec’s Elles portfolio has been interpreted as a chronicle of the daily lives of lesbians involved in the worlds of prostitution and entertainment. The evocative image of a woman in nightdress letting down her hair, seen from behind, in combination with the presence of a man’s top hat introduces one of the themes.

  • Print of woman reclining in a bed

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    Woman Reclining — Waking Up, from Elles, 1896
    Lithograph printed in gray on cream wove paper
    15 13/16 x 20 5/8 in. (40.2 x 52.4 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.110

    Here the rectangle of the sheet serves as the shape of a bed. From underneath a heap of disheveled bedclothes suggested by a nearly abstract pattern of undulating lines, the shaded, profiled head of a woman and a lax arm emerge. Through a half-opened eye, she regards the viewer/artist and presumed client with an air of familiarity.  

  • Color print of woman seated with legs apart

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    The Seated Clowness (Miss Cha-U-Kao), from Elles, 1896
    Lithograph printed in green-black, black-brown, yellow, red, and blue on cream wove paper
    20 11/16 x 15 13/16 in. (52.5 x 40.2 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.108

    This sheet features the contortionist dancer Miss Cha-U-Kao (a phonetic play on chahut-chaos or chaotic can-can). She is shown at rest, her outlandish costume, provocative pose, and brazen stare conveying her strong personality. Sharp outlines are set off against soft atmospheric effects achieved through a technique of blowing fine dots of ink on a lithographic stone. 

  • Color print of two women dancing together near another dancing couple, with other figures in the background

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    Dance at the Moulin Rouge, 1897
    Lithograph printed in gray-black, blue-gray, red, yellow, and green on cream wove paper
    18 1/2 x 14 in. (47 x 35.5 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.119

    Miss Cha-U-Kao is shown here waltzing with her lover in a moment of leisure at the Moulin Rouge. Their nearly identical walking suits and the shared contour line dividing them convey the couple’s intimacy. 

  • Color print of two women, in coats and hats, seated in a theater box, with a man in an adjoining box

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    Box in the Grand Tier, 1897
    Lithograph printed in black, orange-red, blue, beige, and yellow on cream wove paper
    20 1/4 x 15 9/16 in. (51.4 x 39.5 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.118

    In this print, another example of the artist’s blurring of portrait and genre scene, the plush red balustrade of a theater box frames two well-known demimondaines attending a performance. 

  • Chalk drawing of two men, one holding a whip, a woman, and a horse in a circus ring

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    At the Circus: Acrobats, 1899
    Black and color chalks on white wove paper
    9 15/16 x 14 in. (25.3 x 35.5 cm) 
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1955.1429 

    This circus scene, along with At the Circus: The Dog Trainer, belongs to a large group of drawings that Toulouse-Lautrec made from memory while he was recuperating in a medical clinic from alcoholism and a mental breakdown. The attenuated bodies and expressive gestures of the figures reveal the artist’s undiminished mastery of line. 

  • Chalk drawing of two men and dogs in a circus ring

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    At the Circus: The Dog Trainer, 1899
    Black and color chalks, over graphite, on white wove paper
    14 x 9 15/16 in. (35.5 x 25.3 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1955.1427

    This circus scene, along with At the Circus: Acrobats, belongs to a large group of drawings that Toulouse-Lautrec made from memory while he was recuperating in a medical clinic from alcoholism and a mental breakdown. The attenuated bodies and expressive gestures of the figures reveal the artist’s undiminished mastery of line.

  • Color print of two men on horseback, seen from behind

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 
    The Jockey, 1899
    Lithograph printed in black, green, red, brown, beige, and blue on cream wove paper
    20 5/16 x 14 3/16 in. (51.6 x 36 cm)
    Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.122

    The bold foreshortening of the horse and its diagonal thrust convey the force with which the jockey and his mount propel themselves into the open field. Intended as part of a portfolio of prints on the theme of the racetrack, it is the only one the artist, in declining health, completed. 

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