The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Madame Case

Madame Case

after September 1900, probably summer 1901
(French, 1849–1906)
Unframed: 46.2 x 38.1 cm (18 3/16 x 15 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The painting evokes an illusory, dreamy quality that may reflect the fact that Carrière never met his model.

Description

This painting may depict the wife of the artist's close friend, writer Jules Case. In a letter written after her death, Case asked the artist to paint her portrait from an enlarged photograph. "My dear friend," Case wrote, "would you preserve the only face which, from now on, can bring me some little joy, if one can use this word for a sentiment mixed with so much suffering." Carrière emphasized the poetic mood by placing the shadowy figure in a vague, dreamlike space. Known for his evocative paintings of women and children, Eugène Carrière was loosely associated with the French Symbolist movement, which aimed at expressing inner, spiritual life and emotions rather than the outward appearance of physical reality.
  • Commissioned by Jules Case, Paris, after the death of his wife, 1900. Brook St. Gallery Ltd., London. Bought by the CMA in 1967.
  • 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. 218 archive.org
    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. 104-105, Vol. I, no. 39
  • Eugene Carriere Retrospective. Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA (organizer) (November 2, 1968-January 26, 1969); High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (November 2, 1968-January 26, 1969); Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH (February 16-August 3, 1969); Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (November 15, 1969-January 11, 1970); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (February 22-April 5, 1970).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
    Allentown (Pa.) Art Museum; Atlanta, High Museum of Art; Akron (Ohio) Art Institute; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor; Minneapolis Institute of Art. Eugène Carrière 1849-1906: Seer of the Real (1969-70), no. 4 (repr.).
  • {{cite web|title=Madame Case|url=false|author=Eugène Carrière|year=after September 1900, probably summer 1901|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.126