The Jockey (Le jockey)
Artist
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
(French, 1864–1901)
Date1899
Mediumcolor lithograph on white China paper
Dimensions50.8 x 35.6 cm (sheet)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineGift of Kate Butler Peterson
Object number2005.174
Label TextToward the end of his life, Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to create a four-print portfolio called Courses (Races) by the print publisher Pierrefort. A windmill in the upper-right clearly identifies the location as the Longchamps Racecourse, in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, a favorite hangout of the artist before he was hospitalized by family members. The Jockey remains the only print he fully realized before his untimely death at thirty-six from the ravages of alcoholism and syphilis.
Indebted in part to the Edgar Degas’ and Edouard Manet’s innovative use of perspective, Toulouse-Lautrec’s five-color lithograph places the viewer behind the riders at a low angle, drawing attention to the musculature and dynamism of the horses as opposed to the jockeys who are tersely rendered. Toulouse-Lautrec favored lithography given its economy both in creation and cost. He often drew directly on the stone without transfer paper which may explain when the date is reversed in the lower right.
ProvenanceHall Peterson, Petersham, MAOn View
Not on view
