Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)

1887/88

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
French, 1864-1901

This work, set at a circus, captures the tense moment in which a female trick rider prepares to stand up on her horse and leap through a paper hoop held by a clown. The horse gathers speed, spurred on by the whip of famous ringmaster Monsieur Loyal. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec may have based the garishly made-up rider, dressed in a tutu of gauze and sequins, on Suzanne Valadon, a former circus performer, model, and artist with whom he had a nearly three-year relationship. The rider seems to snarl at Monsieur Loyal, who glares back at her. Toulouse-Lautrec’s setting is the same circus in Montmartre depicted in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s portrait of the Wartenberg sisters.

Status: On View, Gallery 242
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Title: Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)
Place: France (Artist's nationality)
Date: 1882–1892
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower left: HT Lautrec
Dimensions: 100.3 × 161.3 cm (39 1/2 × 63 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Joseph Winterbotham Collection
Reference Number: 1925.523
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Fénéon, La Vogue, September 1889 (Fénéon 1970, I, p. 168).
G. A[lbert] A[urier], “Choses d’art,” Mercure de France 2 (January, 1891), p. 62.
Gustave Geffroy, “Exposition Toulouse-Lautrec,” La Justice, February 15, 1893.
Gustave Coquiot, “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,” L’Art et les Artistes 19 (1914), p. 133 (ill.) as Le Cirque.
Gustave Coquiot, Lautrec, ou Quinze Ans de Moeurs Parisiennes, 1885-1900 (Paris, 1921), pp. 102, 137 as L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando.
“A Ticket for the Moulin Rouge,” International Studio 77, 34 (July 1923), p. 300 (ill.) as M. Loyal and the Cirque Fernando.
Gustave Coquiot, Toulouse-Lautrec (Berlin, 1923), trans. by Carl Einstein, pp. 57, 60 pl. 46 (ill.) as Kunstreiterin im Zirkus Fernando.
The Arts 7, 1 (January 1925), p. 37 (ill.) as La Piste.
F., “A Painting by Toulouse-Lautrec,” The Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 19, 1 (January 1925), pp. 94-95 (ill.) as The Circus.
“Chicago Institute Buys a Striking Work by Toulouse-Lautrec,” The Art News 24, 8 (November 28, 1925), p. 4 (ill.) as The Circus.
Achille Astre, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (Nilsson, 1925), p. 43.
Maurice Joyant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Peintre (Paris, 1926), vol. 1, pp. 128, 265, (ill. p. 162), vol. 2, p. 40 as Le Cirque.
Maurice Joyant, “Toulouse-Lautrec,” L’Art et les Artistes 14 (1927), p. 168 (ill.) as Le Cirque.
C.J. Bulliet, Apples & Madonnas: Emotional Expression in Modern Art (Chicago, 1927), n.p. (ill.) as The Circus.
Daniel Catton Rich, “Au Moulin Rouge,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 23, 2 (February 1929), p. 14 as The Circus.
Zervos, Cahiers d’Art 2 (1931), p. 110.
Raymond Lécuyer, “La Rétrospective Toulouse-Lautrec,” L’Illustration No. 4.599 (1931), p. 492.
Léo Larguier, “Toulouse-Lautrec,” Vu (April 1931), p. 570 (ill.).
Valmy Baysse, Le Monde Illustré (April 25, 1931), p. 376 (ill.).
Art Institute, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1932), pp. 74, 174 (ill.) as The Circus (M. Loyal: Cirque Fernando)/In the Circus Fernando: The Ring-Master.
James Johnson Sweeney, “La Peinture Française Moderne a l’Institut des Beaux-Arts de Chicago,” Cahiers d’Art 7 (1932), p. 334 (ill.) as Le Cirque Fernando.
Pierre Mac Orlan, Lautrec, pientre de la lumière froide (Paris, 1934), p. 132 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando—L’écuyère, 1888.
Emile Schaub Koch, Psychanalyse d’un peintre moderne (Litt. Intern, 1935), p. 183.
Théâtre Arts Monthly 21 (August 1937), pl. IX (ill.).
C. J. Bulliet, The Significant Moderns and Their Pictures (New York, 1936), n.p., pl. 116 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando: The Ring Master, 1888.
Gerstle Mack, Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1938), pp. xiii, 215-216, 220 pl. 32 (ill.) as L’Écuyère, 1888.
J. S. Newberry, “The Age of Impressionism & Realism, Detroit’s Anniversary Exhibition,” Art News 38 (May 4, 1940), p. 15 (ill.).
(Article on Art), Life (1941), p. 213 (ill.).
G. R., “Le Cirque avec ses couleurs éclatantes retint longtemps Toulouse-Lautrec,” Radio 47 (1947), p. 22 (ill.).
Art Institute, The Winterbotham Collection (Chicago, 1947), pp. 44, 45 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
“Chicago’s Winterbotham Collection,” Art News 46, 7 (September, 1947), p. 34 (ill.) as The Circus Fernando, 1888.
Francis Jourdain, Lautrec (Marguerat, 1948), pl. 5 (ill.).
Walter Kern, Lautrec (A. Scherz, 1948), pl. 5 (ill.).
Carl O. Schniewind, The Art Institute Presents Toulouse-Lautrec (Chicago, 1949), pp. 3, 9 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
“Chicago Displays Lautrec Treasures,” The Art Digest 23, 18 (July 1, 1949), pp. 10, 30 as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster.
M. G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec (Paris, 1952), n.p., pl. 11 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, L’Écuyère, 1888.
Francis Jourdain and Jean Adhémar, T-Lautrec (Paris, 1952), pp. 30, 73, 81 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, LÉcuyère, around 1888.
Edouard Julien, Towards an Understanding of Toulouse-Lautrec (Albi, 1953), p. 43 (ill.) as At Fernando’s Circus, 1888.
Jacques Lassaigne, Le gout de notre temps – Lautrec (1953), p. 42.
Sam Hunter, Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1953), pl. 12 (ill.).
Pierre du Colombier, Toulouse-Lautrec (1953), pl. 15 (ill.).
Douglas Cooper, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1956), p. 32, 74-75 (ill.) as Cirque Fernando: The Equestrienne, 1888.
Dorothy Bridaham, Toulouse-Lautrec in the Art Institute of Chicago (Zurich, 1954), n.p. pl. IV (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Pierre Courthion, Le gôut de notre temps – Montmartre (Skira, 1957), p. 66.
Henri Perruchot, La Vie de Toulouse-Lautrec (Paris, 1958), pp. 145, 152, 157, 161 as l’Écuyère du Cirque Fernando.
Art Institute, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 329, 453 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Collection Génies et Réalités, Toulouse-Lautrec (Paris, 1962), p. 204, pl. 34 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, around 1888.
Renato Barilli, Il Simbolismo nella Pittura Francese dell’Ottocento (Milan, 1967), pp. 22, 82, 99 pl. LVII as Circo Feranndo: la cavallerizza, 1888.
M. G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre (New York, 1971), vol. 2, p. 146 cat. P312 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, l’Écuyère, 1888.
Richard Thompson, Toulouse-Lautrec (London, 1977), p. 48 cat. 20 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando: the Equestrienne, 1888.
G. M. Sugana, L’opera completa di Toulouse-Lautrec (Milan, 1977), p. 101 cat. 224, pl. VII (ill.) as Al Circo ‘Fernando’: Cavallerizza, 1888.
Charles F. Stuckey, Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, exh. cat. (Chicago, 1979), pp. 124-126 cat. 32 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, l’écuyere/At the Circus Fernando, the equestrienne, 1887.
Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (New York, 1980) pp. 290, 317-318 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Daniel and Eugenia S. Robbins, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: A Selection of Works from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1980), p. 9, pl. 8 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando, 1887.
Gale B. Murray, “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: a checklist of revised dates, 1878-1891,” Gazette des Beaux Arts 95 (February 1980), p. 89 as Au Cirque Fernando: L’Ecuyère (Chicago), 1888-1889.
Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism, exh. cat. (Toronto, 1981), pp. 40-41, 334-335 pl. 28 (ill.).
Charles F. Stuckey, Seurat: A Medaenas Monograph on the Arts (Mount Vernon, New York, 1984), p. 29 as At the Circus Fernando.
G. M. Sugana, Tout l’Oeuvre peint de Toulouse-Lautrec (Paris, 1986), p. 321.
Guy Cogeval, Les Années Post-Impressionnistes (Paris, 1986), p. 42 fig. 74 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando (l’Écuyère), 1888.
Götz Adriani, Toulouse Lautrec: Gemälde und Bildstudien, exh, cat. (Köln, 1986), pp. 86, 304, 305 (ill.) as Im Zirkus Fernando, 1888.
Richard R. Brettell, Post-Impressionists (New York, 1987), pp. 24-26 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1887-88.
James N. Wood, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 65 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
John Milner, The Studios of Paris: the Capital of Art in the Late Nineteenth Century (New Haven, 1988), pp. 146, 147, fig. 158 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Sophie Monneret, Renoir (Paris, 1989) p. 82 fig. 3 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando: l’écuyère, 1888.
Claire and José Frèches, Toulouse-Lautrec: Les Lumières de la Nuit (Paris, 1991), pp. 42-43 (ill.) as Au cirque Fernando, l’écuyère.
Gale B. Murray, Toulouse-Lautrec: The Formative Years, 1878-1891 (Oxford, 1991), pp. xvii, 131, 146, 150, 161, 162, 171, 176, 190, 191, 193, 194, fig. and pl. 118 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, l’écuyère.
Lesley Stevenson, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec (London, 1991), pp. 50-51, 63, 65, 69, 71, 73, 164 (ill.) as At the Cirque Fernando: The Equestrienne, 1888.
Jean Sagne, Toulouse-Lautrec au cirque (Paris, 1991), pp. 16, 19, 52, 53 (ill.) as Au cirque Fernando: l’écuyère, 1888.
Charles F. Stuckey, French Painting (New York, 1991), p. 166-167 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Dominique Jarrassé, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa: Entre le Mythe et la Modernité (Paris, 1991), pp. 45, 52, 152-153, cat. 133 as Au Cirque Fernando: L’écuyère, 1888.
Richard Tilson, Seurat (London, 1991), pp. 28-29 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando, 1887.
Patrick O’Connor, Nightlife of Paris: The Art of Toulouse-Lautrec (New York, 1991), pp. 56-57 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: the Ringmaster, 1888.
Toulouse-Lautrec, exh. cat. (Hayward Gallery, London, 1991-1992), pp. 234-237 (ill.).
Gérard Durozoi, Toulouse-Lautrec (London, 1992), pp. 70-71 (ill.) as At the Cirque Fernando: the Ringmaster, 1888.
Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History (New York, 1994), pp. 334, 335 fig. 16.2 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando: Equestrienne, 1887-8.
Riva Castleman, Toulouse-Lautrec: posters and prints from the collection of Irene and Howard Stein, exh. cat. (Atlanta, 1998), p. 17 (ill.).
Margherita Andreotti, “The Joseph Winterbotham Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, 2 (Chicago, 1994), pp. 124-125 (ill.) as Equestrienne (At the Circus Fernando), 1887-88.
Sophia Shaw Pettus, “Checklist of the Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1921-1994,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, 2 (Chicago, 1994), p. 184 (ill.) as Equestrienne (At the Circus Fernando), 1887-88.
Julia Frey, Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life (London, 1994), pp. 215, 228, 238, 260, n.p. pl. 12 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, l’écuyère (At the Cirque Fernando, the Bareback Rider), 1887.
Marcus Verhagen, “Whipstrokes,” Representations, no. 58 (Spring 1997), pp. 126-137, fig. 5 (ill.) as Equestrienne (At the Circus Fernando), 1887-1888.
Study of Toulouse-Lautrec’s images of the circus, especially drawings of clowns and female circus riders and the painting Equestrienne (At the Circus Fernando), 1887-1888 (Chicago, Art Institute).
David Sweetman, Explosive Acts: Toulouse-Lautrec, Oscar Wilde, Félix Fénéon and the Art & Anarchy of the Fin de Siècle (New York, 1999), pp. 176, 178,180-182 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando: Ecuyère/Ecuyère, the Bareback Rider.
Richard Thompson, “The Cultural Geography of the Petit Boulevard,” in Vincent Van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard, exh. cat. (St. Louis Art Museum, 2001) pp. 100, 102 (ill.).
Daniel Wildenstein, Gauguin: Premier itinéraire d’un sauvage, Catalogue de l’oeuvre peint (1873-1888), vol. 2, p. 360 (ill.) as Le Cirque Fernando.
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 60, pp. 128–29 (ill.).
Colin B. Bailey, “Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg),” Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press and The Frick Collection, 2012. p. 130, fig. 8.
Stéphane Guégan, Toulouse-Lautrec: Résolument modern, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée d’Orsay; RMN – Grand Palaise, 2019), 84, 93 cat. 73, 94–95 (color ill), 330.

Possibly Brussels, Cinquieme Exposition des XX, 1888, cat. 11, as Ecquyère.
Paris, Moulin Rouge, Exposition Permanente, beginning in 1888.
Paris, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Peintures et Lithographies originales de H. de Toulouse Lautrec 1864-1901, January 24-February 20, 1910, cat. 4.
Paris, Galeries Paul Rosenberg, Exposition d’Oeuvres de Toulouse-Lautrec, January 20-February 3, 1914, p. 8 cat. 20 as Monsieur Loyal, collection de M. Oller.
Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Exposition Rétrospective de L’Oeuvre de H. de Toulouse-Lautrec 1864-1901, June 15-July 11, 1914, p. 12 cat. 45 as Au Cirque. – M. Loyal, collection de M. le Baron Lafaurie.
Chicago, Art Institute, Arts Club, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, December 23, 1924-January 25, 1925, cat. 10 as Le Cirque (portrait de Monsieur Loyal).
Cambridge, Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum, Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, March 6-April 6, 1929, p. 20 cat. 87, pl. 45 as The Circus.
Chicago, Art Institute, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1930-1931, pp. 15, 57 cat. 7, (ill.) as At The Circus Fernando. The Ring-Master.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Tenth Loan Exhibition: Lautrec, Redon, February 1–March 2, 1931, pp. 6, 14 cat. 7 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando. The Ring Master, 1888.
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec au profit de la Société des Amis du Musée d’Albi, April 9–May 17, 1931, p. 14 cat. 52 pl. 2 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando: L’Écuyère, around 1887.
New York, Albright Art Gallery, 19th Century French Art in Retrospective, 1931, cat. 59.
Toronto, Art Gallery, Exhibition, December 1932-February 1933.
Chicago, Art Institute, Catalogue of A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Lent from American Collections, June 1-November 1, 1933, p. 53 cat. 373 as In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Chicago, Art Institute, Catalogue of A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, p. 50 cat. 328 as In the Circus Fernando: The Ring-Master, 1888.
Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, Exhibition of 19th Century French Art, 1934, cat. 59.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Independent Painters of Nineteenth Century Paris, March 15-April 28, 1935, pp. 32, 75 cat. 49 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, The Ringmaster, M. Loyal, 1888.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Art in Our Time: An Exhibition to celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of the Museum of Modern Art and the opening of its New Building, May-September 1939, n.p. cat. 78 (ill.) as In the Fernando Circus: the Ring Master, 1888.
Detroit, Institute of Art, French Impressionism from Manet to Cézanne, May-June 1940.
Philadelphia, Museum of Art, Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting, November 4, 1950 – February 11, 1951, n.p. cat. 94 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando. The Ringmaster, 1888.
Philadelphia, Museum of Art, Toulouse-Lautrec [exhibition organized in collaboration with the Albi Museum], October 29-December 11, 1955, p. 16 cat. 16 (ill.) as In the Circus Fernando: The Ring Master, 1888; traveled to Chicago, Art Institute, January 2-February 15, 1956.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, Drawings, Posters and Lithographs, March 20-May 6, 1956, pp. 9, 45 cat. 8 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Paris, Palais du Louvre, Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition, September 1964-January 15, 1965.
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada/Fine Arts Gallery of the Universal and International Exposition of 1967, Terres des Hommes/Man and His World, April 28-October 27, 1967, pp. 116, 117 cat. 56 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando: Le Maître du Cirque/In the Circus Fernando: The Ringmaster, 1888.
Chicago, Art Institute, Toulouse Lautrec: Paintings, October 4-December 2, 1979, pp. 124-126, 143 cat. 32 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, l’écuyere/At the Circus Fernando, the equestrienne, 1887.
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Trésors Impressionistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27-August 31, 1980, p. 20 cat. 38 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando, 1888.
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism, January 24-March 22, 1981, pp. 40, 334 cat. 119, pl. 28 (ill.) as At the Circus Fernando: The Horsewoman, late 1887; traveled to Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, April 9-June 14, 1981.
Leningrad [St. Petersburg], Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: shedevry frantsuzskoĭ zhivopici XIX-nachala XX veka, iz Muieia Metropoliten v Niu-Ĭorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Great Paintings From the XIX century to the Beginning of the XXth century From Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago], March 15-May 19, 1988, cat. 38; Moscow, Pushkin Museum, June 10-July 30, 1988.
London, Hayward Gallery, Toulouse-Lautrec, October 10, 1991-January 19, 1992, cat. 62 (ill.) as Au Cirque Fernando: Ecuyère; Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, February 18-June 1, 1992.
St. Louis, Art Museum, Vincent van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard, February 17-May 13, 2001, pp. 100, 102, 226 (ill.) as Equestrienne (At the Circus Fernando), 1887-1888; traveled to Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, June 8-September 2, 2001.
Atlanta, High Museum of Art, Toulouse-Lautrec: Posters and Prints from the Collection of Irene and Howard Stein, March 24-June 14, 1998, p. 17 (ill.) as Ecuyère (Au Cirque Fernando), 1887.
Washington, D.C., The National Gallery, Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, March 20-June 12, 2005, pp. 236, 237, 239, 245, 258 fig. 266 (ill.) as Equestrienne (At the Circus Fernando), 1887-1888; traveled to Chicago, Art Chicago, July 16-October 10, 2005.
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008, cat. 60 (ill.).
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, October 9, 2019 – January 27, 2020, cat. 73.

Joseph Oller, Paris, 1888 (bought for his café concert, Le Moulin Rouge) until 1914 [see Paris, Paul Rosenberg 1914]. Baron LaFaurie, Paris, by 1914 [see Paris, Manzi Joyant, 1914]. Paul Rosenberg & Co., Paris by 1924 [see Paris 1924]. Joseph Winterbotham, Chicago, by 1924; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1925.

Dortu P. 312

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Educator Resource Packet: Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando) by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

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