Waiting

c. 1887

A woman sits alone at a table with a glass of absinthe. At first glance, she seems to be waiting in a café, but the canvas leaning against the wall suggests the scene was staged in the artist’s studio. Toulouse-Lautrec chose an unusual viewpoint that hides the figure’s features and emphasizes her hunched shoulders and downcast gaze. The fluid washes of paint and visible passages of charcoal underdrawing add to the image’s allure, accentuating its somber and meditative mood.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	22 1/8 x 18 9/16 in. (56.2 x 47.2 cm) Frame: 31 3/4 x 28 1/8 x 3 in. (80.6 x 71.4 x 7.6 cm)
Object Number	1955.564
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	On View

Image Caption

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Waiting, c. 1887, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.564

Select Bibliography

M. G. Dortu.. Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre.. New York: Collectors' Editions.. 1971.. M. G. Dortu and J. A. Méric.. Toulouse-Lautrec: The Complete Paintings. 2 vol.. London: Granada.. 1981.. Paris: Mirliton (Aristide Bruant's cabaret).. . 1888.. . Toulouse-Lautrec, ses Amis et ses Maîtres. Albi (France): Musée d'Albi. Aug. 11-Oct. 28, 1951.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.. Exhibit Eleven: Toulouse-Lautrec.. March 1, 1960.. 1960.. Wildenstein & Company. An Exhibition of Treasures from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts: Paintings, drawings & rare silver, for the benefit of the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, inc. (CRIA). Exhibition catalogue. New York: Wildenstein & Company, 1967. Art Institute of Chicago.. Paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec. Oct. 6-Dec. 2, 1979. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario.. Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism. Jan. 24-March 22, 1981. Wildenstein & Co., New York.. Paris Cafés--Their Role in the Birth of Modern Art. Nov. 13-Dec. 20, 1985.. 1985.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Toulouse-Lautrec at the Clark. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. François Gauzi.. Lautrec et son temps.. Paris: David Perret.. 1954.. Frankfurter, Alfred. "More Treasures Emerge at Williamstown." Art News 55 (Summer 1956). Young, Mahonri Sharp. "Infinite Variety." Letter from the U.S.A. Apollo 85, no. 63 (May 1967): 38183. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. G. M. Sugana.. The Complete Paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec.. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.. 1973.. Giorgio Caproni.. L'Opera completa di Toulouse-Lautrec. Apparati critici et filologici di G. M. Sugana.. Milan: Rizzoli.. 1977.. M. G. Dortu and J. A. Méric.. Toulouse-Lautrec: Every Painting I. Intro trans. Hilary E. Paddon; captions trans. Catherine Atthill.. New York: Rizzoli.. 1981.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Gale B. Murray.. Toulouse-Lautrec: The Formative Years, 1898-1891.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.. 1991.. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Thomson, Richard, Phillip Dennis Cate, and Mary Weaver Chapin. Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 20- June 12, 2005; The Art Institute of Chicago, July 16- October 10, 2005. National Gallery of Art, Washington and The Art Institute of Chicago in association with Princeton University Press. 2005. Toulouse-Lautrec: Uno squardo dentro la vita. Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, October 10, 2003-February 8, 2004 Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012. Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011. Melikian, Souren. "A Unique and Unforgettable Collection." International Herald Tribune, 16–17 September 2000.

Read more- Collapse
EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY

Provenance

Probably Frédéric Wenz, Paris and Sainte-Aulde, France (until d. 1940); Robert Wenz, his son (from 1940, sold to Knoedler);¹ [Knoedler, New York, by 1951, sold to Clark, 31 Jan. 1952, as Dans l’atelier]; Robert Sterling Clark (1952–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. An undated document in the Clark’s curatorial file prepared by Knoedler states that the painting was owned by “Frederic Wenz, a close personal friend of the artist, and remained in his possession until his death. It now comes from his son M. Robert Wenz, who lives in the Vosges mountains.” A handwritten note in the file, dated Oct. 1970, also states that the painting came to Knoedler through Robert Wenz at the time of the dispersal of his father’s estate, which might suggest a date in 1940 or shortly thereafter, although there is no further documentation to support this claim.