The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo

Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo

1908
(French, 1844–1910)
France, late 19th-early 20th Century
oil on fabric
Framed: 183 x 203 x 4.5 cm (72 1/16 x 79 15/16 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 170 x 189.5 cm (66 15/16 x 74 5/8 in.)
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1949.186
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Many of Rousseau's paintings depict wild animals and tropical jungles that might lead you to believe he was quite the adventurer. Despite the wild subject matter Rousseau never left France, but instead drew inspiration from visiting botanical gardens and reading travel books. Would you like to visit the fantastical world shown in this painting?

Description

Having never ventured outside France, Rousseau derived his jungle scenes from reading travel books and visiting the Paris botanical garden. He placed this imaginary scene of a tiger attacking a buffalo within a fantastic jungle environment in which botanical accuracy was of little importance (note the bananas growing upside down). Here, sharply outlined hothouse plants are enlarged to fearsome proportions. Rousseau was working on this painting while imprisoned for fraud in December 1907. Officials granted him an early release to finish it for exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants, where this major composition, one of the artist's largest and most important, appeared in March 1908. A self-taught artist and retired customs inspector, Rousseau was admired by Pablo Picasso and other avant-garde artists for his originality and the naïve purity of his vision.
  • Bought from the artist by Ambroise Vollard on 14 December 1909.
    Bought by John Quinn, New York, October 1923.
    Quinn estate from 1924.
    Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, Chicago, by 1926.
    Mrs. Patrick J. Hill, Washington D.C.
    [Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1948]
    Purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art on 14 June 1949.
  • Le douanier Rousseau: l'innocence archaïque [exposition au Musée d'Orsay, du 22 mars au 17 juillet 2016]. Dossier De L'art (Dijon). Dijon: Édition Faton, 2016. catalogue number 89 232-233
    Fajt, Jiří. Celnik Douanier Rousseau: Painter's Paradise Lost : [Exposition National Gallery, Prague, 15.09.2016-15.01.2017]. Prague: National Gallery, 2016. 128-129
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 515 archive.org
    UCLA Art Council. Years of Ferment; The Birth of Twentieth Century Art 1886-1914. [Los Angeles]: [UCLA Art Council],1965. Reproduced: P. 38, no. 47, cover
    Henning, Edward B. The Spirit of Surrealism. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979. Mentioned: p. 49-50, 185; Reproduced: p. 50, fig. 8; colorplate III
    Le Pichon, Yann. The world of Henri Rousseau. New York: Viking Press, 1982. Reproduced: p. 147
    Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 110, no. 18
    Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 555-559, Vol. II, no. 196
    Admired from afar: masterworks of Japanese painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art [クリーブランド美術館展 : 名画でたどる日本の美 Kurīburando Bijutsukan ten: meiga de tadoru Nihon no bi ]. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2014. Reproduced: p. 135
    König, Kasper, and Falk Wolf, eds. The Shadow of the Avant-Garde: Rousseau and the Forgotten Masters. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2015. Reproduced: p. 92, fig. 57
    Belli, Gabriella. Le Douanier Rousseau: l'innocence archaïque. Vanves: Hazan, 2016. Reproduced: p. 232-233, no. 89
    Brožová, Kristýna. Celník Rousseau: malířův ztracený ráj = Douanier Rousseau: Painter's Paradise Lost. 2016. Mentioned: p. 21; Reproduced: p. 128-129
    Stabenow, Cornelia, and Charity Scott-Stokes. Henri Rousseau: 1844-1910. Köln: Taschen, 2018. Reproduced: P. 87
    Homburg, Cornelia. "Redon's Femmes aux Fleurs." In Odilon Redon: Literature and Music. Cornelia Homburg, etal., 174-197. Rotterdam: Nai010 uitgevers, 2018. Reproduced: p. 184, no. 183
    Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 41 archive.org
  • Le Douanier Rousseau. L'innocence archaïque. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (organizer) (March 21-July 17, 2016); National Gallery, Prague (September 16, 2016-January 15, 2017).
    Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (3/21/2016 - 7/17/2016): "Le Douanier Rousseau. L'innocence archaïque" cat. no. 89, p. 232-233.
    The Shadow of the Avant-Garde. Museum Folkwang, 45128 Essen, Germany (organizer) (October 3, 2015-January 10, 2016).
    Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014).
    CMA (organizer). Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, Korea: Dec. 18, 2006 - March 31, 2007; Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea: Apr. 7 - May 20, 2007; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: June 9 - Sept. 16, 2007; Cleveland Museum of Art, Oct. 21, 2007- January 13, 2008: "Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art"
    Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).
    Jungles in Paris: The Paintings of Henri Rousseau. Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (November 3, 2005-February 5, 2006); Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 75008 Paris, France (March 13-June 19, 2006); National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (July 16-October 15, 2006).
    Tate Modern, London (11/3/2005 - 2/5/2006), Galeries du Grand Palais, Paris (3/13/2006 - 6/19/2006) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (7/16/2006 - 10/15/2006): "Jungles in Paris: The Paintings of Henri Rousseau" ex. cat. no. 45, p. 148-149.
    Henri Rousseau and the Modern Age. Künsthalle Tubingen, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany (organizer) (February 3-June 17, 2001).
    Tübingen, Germany: Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany. Henri Rousseau and the Modern Age (2/3/01 - 6/17/01), exh. cat. no. 43, pp 209-211, repr. p. 211, detail front and back.
    Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).
    CMA. Creativity in Art and Science (1987), no. 18 (repr.).
    Paris, Grand Palais; New York, Museum of Modern Art. Henri Rousseau (1984-85), no. 50 (repr.) (not shown in Paris).
    Years of Ferment: The Birth of Twentieth-century Art. Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (January 24-March 7, 1965); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (March 28-May 16, 1965); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 14-August 22, 1965).
    Los Angeles, ucla Art Galleries; San Francisco Museum of Art; cma. Years of Ferment: The Birth of Twentieth Century Art 1886-1914 (1965), 38 (repr.), no. 47 (repr. on cover).
    Le Monde Des Neifs (De Lusthof Der Naieven). Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (July 10-September 6, 1964); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, Cedex 04, France (October 14-December 6, 1964).
    Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen. De Lusthof der Naïeven (1964), no. 20 (repr.).
    Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne. Le Monde des Naifs (1964), no. 20 (repr.).
    Henri Rousseau. Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY (organizer) (April 16-May 25, 1963).
    New York, Wildenstein. Loan Exhibition Henri Rousseau (1963), no. 46 (repr.).
    Masterpieces of Art. Century 21 Exposition, Seattle, WA (organizer) (April 21-September 4, 1962).
    Seattle World's Fair, Fine Art Pavillion. Masterpieces of Art (1962), no. 53 (repr.).
    Kansas City, Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition, in The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum Bulletin 1 (December 1958), no. 9.
    In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
    Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery. Fifty Paintings 1905-1913 (1955), no. 42, 64 (repr.).
    Kansas City, Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum. Twentieth Anniversary Celebration: French Paintings-19th and 20th Centuries-A Loan Exhibition (1953), checklist no. 10.
    Montreal Museum of Art. Six Centuries of Landscape (1952), no. 58, 29 (repr.).
    Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne. L'oeuvre du XXe siècle (1952), no. 98.
    London, Tate Gallery (Organized by the Arts Council). XXth Century Masterpieces (1952), no. 83.
    Venice. XXV Biennale di Venezia (1950), 235, no. 14, fig. 59.
    New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery. Twentieth Century Masters (1948), no. 12, The Jungle (repr.).
    Art Institute of Chicago; New York, Museum of Modern Art. Henri Rousseau (1942-43), 49 (repr.) (lent by Hill, according to 1942 moma label on the back of the frame; according to moma archives, the painting did not travel to other venues after New York), 64.
    New York, Museum of Modern Art. Fruit and Flower Paintings (1933), no cat.
    Art Institute of Chicago. A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture (1933 and 1934), no. 368 (1933); no. 321 (1934), lent by Mrs. Patrick J. Hill to the Joseph Winterbotham Collection, Art Institute of Chicago.
    Arts Club of Chicago. Paintings by Henri Rousseau (1931), no. 7, The Jungle, collection of Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, Chicago.
    New York, Valentine Gallery. Six Major Paintings by the Modern Masters of France, Braque, Matisse, Derain, Picasso, and One Important Work by Henri Rousseau (1930), no. 7, Le tigre et le rhinocéros-1908.
    New York, Reinhardt Gallery. Loan Exhibition of Paintings from Memling, Holbein, and Titian to Renoir and Picasso (1928), no. 27, The Jungle, lent by Mrs. John Alden Carpenter (repr.)
    Chicago, Arts Club Exhibitions at the Art Institute. Loan Exhibition of Some Modern Paintings (1926-27), no. 14, The Jungle, lent by Mrs. John A. Carpenter.
    Paris, Société des Artistes Indépendants. 24me exposition (1908), no. 5260, Combat de Tigre et de Buffle (for sale).
  • {{cite web|title=Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo|url=false|author=Henri Rousseau|year=1908|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.186