Updated 23 April 2025
Currently not on display
Currently not on display
Mother and Children (Madame Feydeau and Her Children)
| Date | 1897 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 190.5 x 127.8 |
| Inscriptions | Signed and dated lower right: Carolus-Duran / Paris. 1897.; inscribed on a white label on the reverse: Durand / Mme Feydeau et ses Enfants / no. 35; marked in stencil on the stretcher: 35 |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M203 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1959-0091 |
This work depicts Carolus-Duran's daughter, Marianne Carolus-Duran and her children. She was the wife of Georges Feydeau, who was known as a playwright and collector of works by the Impressionist, and the Nabis. This work, with its captivating blend of Impressionist brushwork and traditional Academic methods that palpably render the subject, can be seen as a typical example of the "Salon paintings" that attracted general popular approval. This period was remarkable for the rise of various groups who opposed the considerable Impressionist influence upon the painting community. Many of the Salon painters who represented the mainstream artistic world experimented with Academic compromises while partially imbibing the forms of the Impressionists. The triangular form of the clothed mother and children dominating the center of this composition conveys the familial harmony idealized by the materialist bourgeoisie of the day. Carolus-Duran's characteristic use of a simple contrasting palette can be seen in Madame Feydeau's black dress and the red flower on her breast, and the white dressed girl with her pale yellow flower. Reflecting the not inconsiderable interest in Spain found in 19th century French art, black was one of the artist's favorite colors, and his close friend Manet's love of the effects of black is well known. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 99)
Provenance
M. Knoedler & Co., Paris, stock no. 2302, where purchased by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 10 November 1921 [see M. Knoedler & Co. records, in The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; 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
- 1983
- L'Académie du Japon moderne et les peinters français, Bredgestone Museum of Art, 15 September 1983 - 23 October 1983, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, 29 October-23 November; Ehime Prefectural Art Museum, 29 November-25 December; Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, 7-29 January, cat. no. 136, col. repr.
- 1986
- Kindai Nihon no Yoga to Seiyo, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 15 August 1986 - 26 September 1986
- 1989
- The Old Matsukata Collection, Kobe City Museum, 14 September 1989 - 26 November 1989, cat. no. 32, col. repr.
- 1997
- Expressiveness of Materials, National Museum of Art, Osaka, 19 April 1997 - 22 June 1997, cat. no. 21
- 2016
- Modern Beauty: Art and Fashion in France, Pola Museum of Art, Hakone (Kanagawa), 19 March 2016 - 4 September 2016, cat. no. P28, 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. 101, col. repr.
- 2023
- Another 19th Century: Bouguereau, Millais, and the Academic Painters, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 19 September 2023 - 12 February 2024, cat. no. 18
Bibliography
- 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-138.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 34, repr.
- 1983
- Catalogue de l'exposition: L'Académie du Japon moderne et les peinters français (exh. cat.). Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation; Mie Prefectual Art Museum, eds. [Tokyo], Tokyo Shimbun, 1983, pp. 111, 139, cat. no. 136, col. repr.
- 1986
- Western Painting and Modern Western Style Painting in Japan: One Sentury from Imitaition to Creation (exh. cat.). Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, ed. Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 1986, p. 55, cat. no. 17, repr.
- 1989
- The Old Matsukata Collection (exh. cat.). Kobe City Museum, ed. [Kobe], "Matsukata Collection Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1989, pp. 30, 163, cat. no. 32, col. repr.
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 347.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 99, 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. 99, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 102, col. repr.
- 2016
- Modern Beauty: Art and Fashion in France (exh. cat.). Pola Museum of Art, ed. Hakone-machi(Kanagawa), PolaMuseum of Art, Pola Art Foundation, 2016, p. 55, cat. no. P28, 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. 203, 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. 186, 190, 366, cat. no. 101, col. repr.