Croquet, Edouard Manet, La partie de croquet. 1871

English, Français

English

Part of Croquet at Boulogne-sur-Mer, painted in 1871 by Edouard Manet (French painter, 1832 - 1883)

This horizontal genre painting features a group of five elegantly-dressed men and women playing croquet on a green lawn overlooking the ocean. In the lower left foreground, two dogs--one white, one black--play together. In the middle ground, a fence covered in (or made from?) dark green foliage separates the figures from the sea in the background, which is dotted with small boats. Two flag poles join a man looking through a telescope and seated woman in the right middleground. A brisk wind is indicated by a woman holding her hat to her head, as well as the French flag that streams out stiffly to the side. The sky is blue with white patches of clouds.

Oil on canvas. Unframed: 18 x 28 3/4 inches (45.72 x 73.03 cm). Framed: 27 1/2 x 38 x 2 7/8 inches (69.85 x 96.52 x 7.3 cm). Signed lower right: Manet

Exhibitions

• Exposition des Œuvres de Édouard Manet, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, January 1884, no. 73, as La partie de crocket.
• Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, American Art Association, New York, April 10-28, 1886; National Academy of Design, New York, May 25-June 30, 1886.

• Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9-September 9, 2007, no. 1, as The Croquet Party (La partie de croquet).

Provenance

• Édouard Manet (1832-1883), Paris, 1871-1879;

• Purchased from Manet by Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), Paris, 1879-February 21, 1894 [1];

• Inherited by his younger brother, Martial Caillebotte (1853-1910), Paris, 1894-January 16, 1910 [2];

• Inherited by his wife, Marie Caillebotte (née Minoret, 1863-1931), Paris or Pornic, France, 1910-October 5, 1931;

• By descent to her daughter, Geneviève Chardeau (née Caillebotte, 1890-1986), Paris, by 1931-1960s [3];

• Possibly Rouart family, France [4];

• With the Galerie Schmit, Paris, by the 1970s;

• Purchased from the Galerie Schmit by Juan Guillermo de Beistegui (b. 1930), Paris, 1970s-January 7, 1986;

• Purchased from de Beistegui through Margo Pollins Schab, New York, by Marion (née Helzberg, 1931-2013) and Henry (b. 1922) Bloch, Shawnee Mission, KS, 1986-June 15, 2015 [5];
• Given by Henry and Marion Bloch to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
Notes:

[1] On November 20, 1883, Caillebotte added a codicil to his will stipulating that his collection should be given to the Musée du Luxembourg after his death. The museum was notified of this bequest in early March 1894, but many of the paintings, including The Croquet Party, were refused by the Comité consultatif des Musées nationaux after 18 months of deliberation and returned to his brother, Martial Caillebotte. See [Adolphe] Tabarant, “Le peintre Caillebotte et sa collection,” Bulletin de la Vie Artistique, no. 15 (August 1, 1921): 405-13; and A[dolphe] Tabarant, Manet: Histoire catalographique (Paris: Éditions Montaigne, 1931), 244.
[2] Martial Caillebotte offered The Croquet Party to the French government in 1904 and 1908, but it was refused both times.

[3] See e-mail from Gilles Chardeau to Brigid Boyle, July 30, 2015, NAMA curatorial files. The painting remained within the family “jusqu’aux environs des années 1960,” at which time Geneviève Chardeau sold the painting through a dealer.

[4] See e-mail from Miguel de Beistegui to Brigid Boyle, May 14, 2015, NAMA curatorial files. According to Mr. de Beistegui’s father, Juan Guillermo de Beistegui, The Croquet Party formerly belonged to “an heir of the Rouart family,” though he could not recall the name.

[5] Phone call from Margo Pollins Schab to Brigid Boyle, May 18, 2015. According to Ms. Schab, her gallery had The Croquet Party on consignment from Juan de Beistegui.

Literature

• Exposition des Œuvres de Édouard Manet, exh. cat. (Paris: Imprimerie de A. Quantin, 1884), 49, as La partie de crocket.

• Joséphin Péladan, “Le Procédé de Manet: D’après l’Exposition de l’École des Beaux-Arts,” L’Artiste 1 (February 1884): 114, as Partie de Crocket.

• Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, exh. cat. (New York: J. J. Little, 1886).

• Théodore Duret, Histoire d’Édouard Manet et de son œuvre (Paris: H. Floury, 1902), 102, 243-44, as La Partie de crocket.

• Hugo von Tschudi, Édouard Manet (Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1902), 32-33.

• Julius Meier-Graefe, Édouard Manet (Munich: Piper, 1912), 219-20, (repro.).

• Théodore Duret, Histoire d’Édouard Manet et de son œuvre, avec un catalogue des peintures et des pastels (Paris: Bernheim-Jeune, 1919), no. 169.

• [Adolphe] Tabarant, “Le peintre Caillebotte et sa collection,” Bulletin de la Vie Artistique, no. 15 (August 1, 1921): 412-13, (repro.), as La partie de crocket.

• Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Manet Raconté par Lui-Même, vol. 1 (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1926), 1:134-35, 153, (repro.); 2:3-4, 111, as La partie de crocket.

• A[dolphe] Tabarant, Manet: Histoire catalographique (Paris: Éditions Montaigne, 1931), no. 194, pp. 243-44, as Partie de Crocket à Boulogne.
• Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein, Manet (Paris: Beaux-Arts, 1932), 1:no. 197, pp. 89, 142; 2:175, (repro.), as La Partie de Croquet.
• Gotthard Jedlicka, Edouard Manet (Erlenbach, Switzerland: Eugen Rentsch, 1941), 172, as Krocketpartie.

• Hans Huth, “Impressionism Comes to America,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 29 (April 1946): 239, 239n22, 240, as Croquet Party.
• Michel Florisoone, Manet (Monaco: Documents d’art, 1947), XX, as Partie de croquet.

• A[dolphe] Tabarant, Manet et ses Œuvres, 5th ed. (Paris: Gallimard, 1947), 114, 191, 491, 512, 538, 608, (repro.), as Partie de crocket à Boulogne.

• Germain Bazin, Trésors de l’Impressionnisme au Louvre, 3rd ed. (1958; Paris: Éditions Aimery Somogy, 1965), 45, 45n1, as Joueurs de croquet.

• Jacques Lethève, Impressionnistes et Symbolistes devant la presse (Paris: Armand Colin, 1959), 147.

• J. Bouchot-Saupique, “Études de quelques Dessins de l’ancienne Collection Pellerin,” Bulletin de l’Art français (1960): 134.

• Sandra Orienti, The Complete Paintings of Manet (1967; London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970), no. 151, p. 100, (repro.), as Partie de Croquet à Boulogne-Sur-Mer (The Game of Croquet at Boulogne-sur-Mer).
• Alain de Leiris, The Drawings of Edouard Manet (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 35n48, 71n20, 119-20, as La Partie de croquet à Boulogne.
• Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein, Edouard Manet: Catalogue raisonné, vol. 1 (Lausanne: Bibliothèque des arts, 1975), 1:no. 173, pp. 5-6, 27, 154-55, (repro.); 2:196, 198, as La Partie de croquet.

• Alice Bellony-Rewald, The Lost World of the Impressionists (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1976), 79, 282, (repro.), as The Croquet Party.

• Kirk Varnedoe, Gustave Caillebotte (1987; repr. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), 203, as La partie de croquet.

• Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Manet by Himself: Correspondence and Conversation; Paintings, Pastels, Prints and Drawings (London: Macdonald, 1991), 197, 311, (repro.), as Croquet at Boulogne.

• Marie Berhaut, Gustave Caillebotte: Catalogue Raisonné des Peintures et Pastels, rev. ed. (Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1994), 281, as La Partie de croquet.
• Anne Distel et al., Gustave Caillebotte: 1848-1894, exh. cat. (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1994), 31, 42-43, 360, 374, (repro.), as La Partie de croquet.

• Gustave Caillebotte: The Unknown Impressionist, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1996), 212, 215, 222, (repro.), as The Croquet Game.

• Nancy Locke, Manet and the Family Romance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 126, 128, 222, (repro.), as The Croquet Party at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

• Juliet Wilson-Bareau and David Degener, Manet and the Sea (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2003), 72–73, 96n78, 96n79, 96n80, 97n82, 135, (repro.), as Croquet at Boulogne.

• Caillebotte: Au cœur de l'impressionnisme, exh. cat. (Lausanne: Bibliothèque des Arts, 2005), 178, as La partie de crocket [sic].
• Rebecca Dimling Cochran and Bobbie Leigh, “100 Top Collectors Who Have Made a Difference,” Arts and Antiques 29, no. 3 (March 2006): 90, as The Croquet Party.

• Bobbie Leigh, “Magnificent Obsession,” Art and Antiques 29, no. 6 (June 2006): 65, as The Croquet Party.
• Sidsel Maria Søndergaard, ed., Women in Impressionism: From Mythical Feminine to Modern Woman (Milano: Skira, 2006), 204, 209, 223n60, (repro.), as The Croquet Party.
• Steve Paul, “Pretty Pictures: Marion and Henry Bloch’s collection of superb Impressionist masters,” Panache 4, no. 3 (Fall 2007): 24, (repro.), as The Croquet Party.

• Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 2, 11, 15, 30-33, 153, 155, (repro.), as The Croquet Party (La partie de croquet).
• “Kansas City Riches,” The New York Times 159, no. 54,942 (February 5, 2010): C26.

• James H. Rubin, Manet: Initial M, Hand and Eye (Paris: Flammarion, 2010), 290-92, 294, (repro.), as Croquet at Boulogne.

• Thomas M. Bloch, Many Happy Returns: The Story of Henry Bloch, America’s Tax Man (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2011), 174, as The Croquet Party.
• Diane Stafford, “Bloch Gift to Go for Nelson Upgrade,” The Kansas City Star 135, no. 203 (April 8, 2015): A1, A8, (repro.), as The Croquet Party.

[Same article published online on 4/8/15 with the title “Bloch Family Foundation Will Finance Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Renovation.” – BB 4/08/15. See http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/visual-arts/article17804426.html]
• “World-Class Bloch Art Collection Will Be on Permanent View in Renovated Galleries at the Nelson-Atkins,” Artdaily.org (April 9, 2015).

http://artdaily.com/news/77729...
• “Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Officially Accessions Bloch Impressionist Masterpieces,” Artdaily.org (July 25, 2015): unpaginated, as The Croquet Party.
• Julie Paulais, “Le Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art reçoit des tableaux impressionnistes en échange de leurs répliques,” Le Journal des arts (July 30, 2015): (repro.), as Partie de croquet à Boulogne-sur-Mer.
• Monet and the Birth of Impressionism, exh. cat. (Munich: Prestel, 2015), 137-38, (repro.), as The Game of Croquet / La Partie de croquet.

• Josh Niland, “The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Acquires a Renowned Collection of Impressionist and Postimpressionist Art,” Architectural Digest blog (August 6, 2015): (repro.), as The Croquet Party.

• “Nelson-Atkins to unveil renovated Bloch Galleries of European Art in winter 2017,” Artdaily.org (July 20, 2016): unpaginated, (repro.), as The Croquet Party.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (2015.13.11). Gift of Henry W. and Marion H. Bloch

Source: Barbara Wells Sarudy, The Nelson-Atlkins Museum of Art

Français

La partie de croquet, 1871, par Edouard Manet (1832 - 1883)