The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

The Jockey

The Jockey

1899
(French, 1864–1901)
France, late 19th Century
color lithograph
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1967.234
Catalogue raisonné: Wittrock Vol.II.308 ; Delteil 279
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec set this print at an identifiable race track, at Longchamps in Paris's Bois de Boulougne.

Description

Motivated by the popularity of the races, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec executed this lithograph both in color, seen here, and in black and white. He intended to publish the color version in a portfolio of horse-racing subjects, but the project never came to fruition and Jockey was published alone. The artist's admiration for Edgar Degas's horse-racing pictures is clear in Jockey, and he shared Degas's appreciation of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Particular elements of the lithograph reveal the influence of the Japanese woodcut: the overall flatness; the daring cropping—particularly of the background horse whose head and hindquarters have been omitted; the pale green hue of the grass and the blue-violet sky; and the dramatic, rushing perspective of the horses galloping into the distance. However, the younger artist incorporated the Japanese aesthetic into his own visual language in an entirely original way. Unlike Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec ignored Eadweard Muybridge's photographs and depicted his horse and rider in the physically impossible "flying-gallop" position.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 179 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 222 archive.org
  • Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; May 13 - July 13, 2003. " Object in Focus: Degas' Jockeys "
    Leona E. Prasse, Connoisseur and Curator. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-August 25, 1985).
    The Print Club of Cleveland, 1919 - 1969: Fifty Years in Review. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 14-March 31, 1970).
    Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).
    Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).
  • {{cite web|title=The Jockey|url=false|author=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|year=1899|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.234