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Mar 9, 2011

Pierrot

c. 1850–60

Paul Gavarni

(French, 1804–1866)

France, 19th century

Watercolor heightened with white gouache on off-white wove paper

Support: Off-white wove paper

Sheet: 31.8 x 21 cm (12 1/2 x 8 1/4 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1923.854

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Around the time that Paul Gavarni made this drawing, he also created a series of prints called School of the Pierrots (1851–53), which chronicled the character's misadventures.

Description

This drawing, by caricaturist Paul Gavarni, presents a character from pantomime and festival culture. Called Pierrot, he is recognizable by his comically ill-fitting clothes and was popular in performances during Gavarni's lifetime. The artist drew Pierrot several times late in his career, often adding humorous captions, which likely related to his work in printmaking and illustration.

Artist biography

Paul Gavarni

Gavarni captured the private lives of Parisians in the over 4,000 illustrations he produced for journals and magazines.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Inscribed, lower right, in red wash: Gavarni; lower left, in red wash: Les femmes sont farces!

Provenance

?-1923

(Keppel & Co., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)

1923-

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

T. S. "An Exhibition of Drawings." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 11, no. 7 (1924): 140-44. Mentioned: p. 124; Reproduced: on cover www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Reproduced: p. 45 archive.org

French Watercolors, 1760–1860. Exh. cat. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1965. Mentioned: no. 50

Exhibition history

French Watercolors, 1760–1860. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (September 29–October 24, 1965).

Miscellaneous Prints and Drawings from the Museum Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 23-October 23, 1924).

Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 7, 1932-January 8, 1933).

Exhibition of Drawings from the Museum Collection Supplemented by Loans from Local Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 12-September 15, 1935).

Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-December 9, 1937).

Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 4-March 26, 1939).

Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-October 3, 1940).

Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 27, 1941).

French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942).

Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 17-August 24, 1942).

19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943).

Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).

French Watercolors. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (organizer) (September 29-October 10, 1965).

French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966).

Brush Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 3-May 10, 1981).

Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Pierrot|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1923.854|author=Paul Gavarni|year=c. 1850–60|access-date=04 October 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Pierrot

Pierrot

Paul Gavarni

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Description

Paul Gavarni

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