Poor Fisherman|Pierre Puvis de Chavannes |Search Collection

Updated 09 April 2025

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On Display

Permanent collection

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Lyon, 1824 - Paris, 1898

Poor Fisherman

Date	ｃ. 1887-92
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	105.8 x 68.6
Inscriptions	Signed lower right: P. Puvis de Chavannes
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Price 331; M891
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0175

Puvis de Chavannes, at the same time as he furthered the tradition of mural painting, pioneered nineteenth-century French Symbolism. This painting――a variant of a work in the Musée d'Orsay with the same title――bears the artist’s hallmarks of subdued coloring, flatness, and succinct composition using color planes. The theme of poverty symbolically depicted in the work is lent religious and poetic overtones through the biblical associations of the fisherman, eyes downcast, and the sleeping infant.(Source: Gallery label, October 2016)

Provenance

Purchased from artist by Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 4 April 1893 (Fr. 8,000), who sold to Emile Boivin, Paris, on the same day, photo 403; [?] Beurdeley [noted by Henri Puvis de Chavannes]; Soulange-Boudin; Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1920; purchased from Galerie Durand-Ruel by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 31 December 1921 [see records in the Durand-Ruel & Co. Archives, Paris]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1899: Tableaux, Esquisse et Dessins de Puvis de Chavanne, Garelie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 0 June 1899 - 0 July 1899, no. 16
1903: Entwicklung des Impressionismus in Malerei und Plastik: XVI. Ausstellung der Vereingung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Sezession Wien, Wien, 0 January 1903 - 0 February 1903, no. 81 (as Der Dichter)
1923: LXVI vystava francouzského malirstvi [66th Exhibition of French Paintings], Manes Spolku [Manes Society of Fine Arts], Praha, 0 May 1923 - 0 June 1923, no. 117 [belonging to Matsukata]
1924: Inaugural Exposition of French Art in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, San Francisco, California, 1924-1925, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA, 0 1924 - 0 1925, no. 48, repr.
1947: Les origines de l'art contemporain: la peinture française de Manet à Bonnard, Strasbourg Museum (also shown at Besançon and Nancy), 27 September 1947 - 0 0, cat. no. 57
1949: Landscape in French Art, 1550-1900, Royal Academy of Art, London, 10 December 1949 - 5 March 1950, no. 326
1982: Exposition spéciale pour l'ouverture du Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu : Paris autour de 1882 : Le Développemėnt de la peinture moderne en France et Hôsui Yamamoto, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, 3 November 1982 - 19 December 1982, cat. no. 40, col. repr
1983: 1880 Nendai no Parigadan Ten, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, 15 January 1983 - 20 February 1983, cat. no. 31, col. repr.
1990: La peinture de l'Ecole lyonnaise du XIXe siècle : La Floire de Lyon, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, 20 July 1990 - 2 September 1990, Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki, 9 September-14 October 1990; The Fukuyama Museum of Art, 20 October-2 December 1990, cat. no. 77, col. repr.
1994: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 25 February 1994 - 29 May 1994, cat. no. 81, repr.
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 42
2004: Permanent exhibition, Ohara Museum of Art, 10 September 2004 - 12 December 2004
2009: "Shirakaba": Pilots of Art in Modern Japan, Hiroshima Museum of Art, 13 September 2009 - 25 October 2009, cat. no. I-27, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, Pola Museum of Art, 13 July 2013 - 24 November 2013, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013-9 March 2014, cat. no. 67, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 97, col. repr.
2020: Sleeping: Life with Art: From Goya and Rubens to Shiota Chiharu, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 25 November 2020 - 23 February 2021, no. 6-1, col. repr.

Bibliography

0: Durand-Ruel Archives. New York, no. 12095
1922: Tabarant. La collection Matsukata. Bulletin de la vie artistique. 36 Anée no. 24, 15 December 1922, pp. 564-567
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 7, col. repr.
1959: Zusetsu Sekai Bunkashi Taikei. vol. 10, Tokyo, Kadokawa Shoten, 1959, p. 20, pl. 7, repr.
1959: Takashina, Shuji. A Hundred Year of the French Modern Paintings: Pictures from Matsukata Collection. Mizue: a monthly review of the fine arts. no. 651, Special Number, July 1959 (in Japanese), pp. 5-8, repr.
1959: Miyamoto, Saburo. Seiyo-bijyutsukan no e ni tsuite. Sansai. no. 115, June 1959 (Japanese), pp. 29-31, repr.
1961: , Sekai Bijyutsu Zenshu. Tominaga, Soichi, ed. vol. 36, Tokyo, Kadokawa Shoten, 1961
1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-242.
1964: Peillex, Georges. La peinture du XIXe siècle. Paris, Pont Royal, 1964 (Le livre-musée. La peinture Occidentale: 11), no. 59, repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 66, repr.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 62, repr.
1976: Puvis de Chavennes (exh. cat.). Paris, 1976, p. 159, mentioned under cat. no. 138
1976: Puvis de Chavannes: 1824-1898 (exh. cat.). Grand Palais, Paris, 26 November 1976 - 14 February 1977; Galerie nationale du Canada, Ottawa, 18 March - 1 May 1977. Paris, Éditions des Musées nationaux, c1976, p. 157
1978: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 67, repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 227, repr.
1981: Poklady svetových galérií. Svět v obrazech. ročník 37, 1981. 5, [p. 32], repr.
1982: Paris autour de 1882: Le Développemėnt de la peinture moderne en France et Hôsui Yamamoto: Exposition spéciale pour l'ouverture du Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu (exh. cat.). Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu, ed. Gifu, Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu, 1982, cat. no. 40, col. repr.
1983: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1983 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 72, repr.
1983: 1880nendai no Paris Gadan Ten (exh. cat.). The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura; The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, eds. [Tokyo], Tokyo Shimbun, 1983, cat. no. 31, col. repr.
1989: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 87, repr.
1990: La gloire de Lyon: La peinture de l'Ecole lyonnaise du XIXe siècle (exh. cat.). The Museum of Fine Arts ,Gifu, ed. [Gifu], The Museum of Fine Arts ,Gifu, 1990, pp. 117, 197, cat. no. 77, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 1233.
1993: Imahashi, Eiko. Ito Shoukei Nihonjin no Paris. Tokyo, 1993, pp. 302-307, pl. 1, repr.
1994: Price, Aimée Brown. The Poor Fisherman: A Painting in Context. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (exh. cat). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 25 February - 29 May 1994. Amsterdam, 1994, pp. 45-53, 162
1996: Oki, Yukiko. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes: Le pauvre pêcheur. Seikimatsu to Shocho-Shugi. Takashina Shuji; Senzoku, Nobuyuki, eds. Shogakukan, 1996 (Sekai Bijyutsu Dai-zenshu, Seiyo-hen, 24), cat. no. 12, repr.
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art & the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, 20 July – 8 September 1996. Tokyo, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, pp. 82, 243, cat. no. 42, repr.
1998: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1998 (Japanese, introduction in Japanese and English), no. 96, repr.
2002: Da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso: Verso l'arte moderna (exh. cat.). Lemoine, Serge, ed. Palazzo Grassi, Venezia. 10 February – 16 June 2002. [Milano], Bompiani, 2002, no. 18, repr. (not exhibited)
2009: Shirakaba: Pilots of Art in Modern Japan(exh.cat.). The Museum of Kyoto. et al., eds. [Osaka], The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2009, cat. no. I-27, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 94, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 101, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 67, col. repr.
2014: Arcadia by the Shore: the Mythic World of Puvis de Chavannes(exh. cat.). Matsue, Shimane Art Museum, c2014, cat. no. 31, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 891, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 180, 184, 365, cat. no. 97, col. repr.
2020: Sleeping: Life with Art—From Goya and Rubens to Shiota Chiharu (exh. cat.). Furutate, Ryo, ed. National Museum of Art, 2020, pp. 155, 187, cat. no. 6-1, col. repr.

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