Parisiennes in Algerian Costume or Harem|Pierre-Auguste Renoir |Search Collection

Updated 24 August 2023

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On Display

Permanent collection

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Limoges, 1841 - Cagnes-sur-Mer, 1919

Parisiennes in Algerian Costume or Harem

Date	1872
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	156 x 128.8
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower left: A. Renoir. 1872.
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Daulte 84; Fezzi 73; Dauberville 576; M917
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0182

This is quintessential early Renoir. Although the painting purports to show a harem (the female quarters in a Muslim household), complete with alluring women, it is an imagined scene projected onto a room in Paris. Renoir had not yet visited North Africa and been directly exposed to Islamic culture, the painting’s Orientalism, expressed in the elaborately decorated carpet and furnishings and flamboyantly dressed Parisian models, follows such works as Delacroix’s Women of Algiers in their Apartment. The lush colors and brushwork we will come to associate with Renoir are already on display. (Source: Gallery label, October 2016)

Provenance

Eugène Murer, Paris, as “Intérieur de harem à Montmartre, femmes nues”; E. Fasquelle, Paris, before 1912; purchased from the above by Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 4 October 1913, as “Le harem”, stock no. 20929, photo 221; purchased from the above by Galerie Bernheim Jeune fils, 26 January 1914 (Fr. 44,500): purchased from the above by Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 31 December 1921, as “Parisiennes habillées en Algéliennes”, stock no. 11980, photo 9056; purchased from the above by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 31 December 1921 (Fr. 97,000); 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

1913: Renoir, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 0 1913 - 0 1913, cat. no. 5, repr.
1914: Art français, Grosvenor House, London, 0 1914 - 0 1914, cat. no. 7
1947: De David à Cézanne, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussel, 0 November 1947 - 0 January 1948, cat. no. 117, pl. 62, repr.
1948: Gli impressionisti alla XXIV Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, 0 1948 - 0 1948, cat. no. 50, pl. 51
1950: De Manet a nuestros días, Caracas, 0 1950 - 0 1950, cat. no. 10
1952: Renoir, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, 0 1952 - 0 1952, cat. no. 3, fig. 2
1952: Renoir, Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice, 0 1952 - 0 1952, cat. no. 4, repr.
1955: Capolavori dell'Ottocento francese, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, 0 1955 - 0 1955, cat. no. 89, fig. 71
1960: The Masterpieces of the Ex-Matsukata Collection, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 14 May 1960 - 10 July 1960, cat. no. 110, repr.
1962: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Hakutsuru Museum, Kobe, 20 October 1962 - 5 November 1962, P-250
1962: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Art Gallery of Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya, 17 November 1962 - 9 December 1962, cat. no. 46 (当館記録による）
1979: French Paintings at the End of the 19th Century and the Beginning of the 20th Century in Japanese Collections, Hermitage, Leningrad, 0 1979 - 0 1979, Vilnius Museum, Vilnius; Pushkin Museum, Moscow, 1979, cat. no. 43, col. repr.
1979: Renoir, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 26 September 1979 - 6 November 1979, cat. no. 9bis, repr.
1985: Renoir, Hayward Gallery, London, 30 January 1985 - 21 April 1985, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 14 May-2 September, cat. no. 19, col. repr.
1988: Renoir Retrospective, Nagoya City Art Museum, 15 October 1988 - 11 December 1988, cat. no. 4, col. repr.
1989: The Old Matsukata Collection, Kobe City Museum, 14 September 1989 - 26 November 1989, cat. no. 38, col. repr.
1994: Paris en 1874: L'Année de l'Impressionnisme (Paris in 1874: The Year of Impressionism), National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 20 September 1994 - 27 November 1994, cat. no. 82
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. 27
2014: The Rings from The Hashimoto Collection of The National Museum of Western Art, The National Museum of Western Art, 8 July 2014 - 15 September 2014, cat. no. 249
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. 154, col. repr.

Bibliography

1912: Meier-Graefe, J. Auguste Renoir. Paris, H. Floury, 1912, pp.21-22, repr. p. 23.
1913: Mirebeau, Octave. Renoir. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1913, p. 56, repr. n.p.
1918: Ambroise Vollard. Tableaux, Pastels & Dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir. vol. 1, Paris, 1918, p. 94, no. 376, repr. (rprt. Paris, A.C. Mazos, 1954. Eng. trans. Pierre-Auguste Renoir : Paintings, Pastels and Drawings. San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts ,1989)
1920: Blanche, Jacques-Emile. Quatre-vingt ans de peinture libre, 1800-1885. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1920, no. 24.
1921: Rivière, Georges. Renoir et ses amis. Paris, H. Floury, 1921, repr. p. 12.
1922: Tabarant. La collection Matsukata. Bulletin de la Vie Artistique. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 15 December 1922, repr. p. 566.
1923: Jamot, Paul. Renoir. Gazette des Beaux-Arts. ser. 5, tome 8, 1923, pp. 262, 265, repr. p. 263.
1924: Duret, Théodore. Renoir. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1924, no. 4, repr.
1929: Meier-Graefe, Julius. Renoir. Leipzig, Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1929, p. 47, no. 31 repr.
1931: Rey, R. La Renaissance du sentiment classique dans la peinture française à la fin du XIXe siècle. Paris, 1931, pl. 10
1939: Venturi, L. Les archives de l'impressionnisme, vol. I. Paris, 1939, p. 32.
1944: Drucker, Michel. Renoir. Paris, Pierre Tisné, 1944, pl. 20.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 18, col. repr.
1955: Drucker, Michel. Renoir. Paris, Pierre Tisné,1955, pl. 17.
1955: Rewald. John. Histoire de l'impressionnisme. Goldet-Bouwens, Nancy, trans. vol. 1, Paris, Albin Michel, 1955, (Le livre de poche, collection histoire de l'art), pp. 324-325.
1956: Gachet, P. Deux amis des impressionnistes, le Docteur Gachet et Murer. Paris, 1956, pp. 171, 172.
1959: Cooper, Douglas. Renoir, Lise and the Le Cœur family: A study of Renoir's early development, I. Lise. The Burlington Magazine. vol. 101, no. 674, 1959, p. 166, fig. 7.
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-250.
1961: Rewald, John. The history of impressionism. New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1961, p. 272.
1964: Perruchot, Henri. La vie de Renoir. Paris, Hachette, 1964, pp. 79, 83.
1971: Daulte, François. Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, I, figures, 1860-1890. Lausanne, 1971, no. 84, repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 67, col. repr.
1972: Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir: nel periodo impressionista 1869-1883. Milano, 1972, no. 73, repr. (French ver. Tout l'œuvre peint de Renoir: Période Impressionniste 1869-1883. Paris, Flammarion, 1985, Les Classiques de l'art. pl. IX, no. 71, repr. )
1972: Daulte, François. Renoir. Milano, 1972, p. 76, repr.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no.41, col. repr.
1978: Callen, A. Renoir. London, 1978, no, 17, repr.
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. 48, col. repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 234, repr.
1985: Denis Rouart. Renoir. Paris, Nathan, 1985, p.22.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 1260.
1996: Kitazaki, Chikashi. Renoir's Harem: On the title of Parisiennes déguisées en algériennes. Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. Nos. 27-28 (April 1992-March 1994), 1996, pp. 51-57, repr.
2003: Renoir and Algeria (exh. cat.). Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 16 February - 11 May 2003, Dallas Museum of Art, 8 June - 31 August 2003, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, 6 October 2003 - 18 January 2004, pp. 16, 29-33, 149, repr.
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. 82, col. repr.
2007: Dauberville, Guy-Patrice; Dauberville, Michel. Renoir: catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 554-555, cat. no. 576.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 82, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 90, 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. 917, col. repr.

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