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En scène (On stage)

Maker

(artist)
1852-1931

Title

En scène (On stage)

Date of Production

1910-1911

Medium

black and brown chalks, pen and grey ink, grey wash, watercolour and bodycolour on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 53.3 cm
Width: 37.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1935.SC.121

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, gift, 1935

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

During his career Forain was celebrated as a painter, printmaker and draughtsman. With Degas, his lifelong friend and mentor, he frequented the Paris Opéra where he observed ballet dancers and their typically middle-aged suitors. In this roughly finished drawing, two men seen from behind and three dancers on stage blend in with their seemingly monumental surroundings. Forain’s rapid execution is evident in the loose, unrefined contours of the figures and in the broad, liberal application of colour throughout.

Provenance

purchased from the artist by Arthur Tooth & Sons, London; purchased there by Samuel Courtauld, London (1876-1947), February 1925; Courtauld Gift 1935

Exhibition History

Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931): la comédie parisienne, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, 26/06/2011-09/10/2011

Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931): la comédie parisienne, Petit Palais, Paris, 09/03/2011-05/06/2011

The Dancer - Degas, Forain and Lautrec, Portland Art Museum, USA, 02/02/2008-11/05/2008 ...More

Samuel Courtauld memorial exhibition, Tate Gallery, London, 1948 ...Less

Literature

Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931), Petit Palais, Paris, 2011
cat. no. 187
no. 187 on p. 247
illus. p. 230

Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931): la comédie parisienne, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, 2011
illus. pl. 202 on p. 230

The Dancer - Degas, Forain and Lautrec, Portland Art Museum, USA, 2008
p. 245 ...More

John House, Impressionism for England: Samuel Courtauld as Patron and Collector, Courtauld Institute Galleries 1994
no. 89
illus. p. 214

Cooper, Douglas, The Courtauld Collection, London 1954
no. 121 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower right, black bodycolour, signed: “forain”; lower left corner, graphite: "2-35". Verso: upper left corner on a piece of tape, graphite: “3146 / T” [Arthur Tooth inventory number?]; upper right corner, graphite: “9” or “g”; lower right, graphite, enclosed in a rectangle: “7559”.

Collector's mark: none.

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