PRESS KIT

DECEMBER 2023

4 April
1 September 2024

EN JEU !
Artists and Sport: 1870-1930
 Press kit
EN
JEU !
Artists and Sport:
1870-1930
The exhibition En jeu ! Artists and
Sport: 1870-1930 has received the
“Cultural Olympiad” label from
the Paris 2024 Organizing Com-
mittee. The Cultural Olympiad is a
multidisciplinary artistic and cultu-
ral programme offering various
events throughout France until
September 2024.

CURATOR
Chief curator: Érik DESMAZIÈRES
Director, Musée Marmottan Monet
Scientific curator: Bertrand TILLIER Associate curator: Aurélie GAVOILLE
professor of contemporary history, Paris - conservation officer,
Panthéon Sorbonne University; co-director, Musée Marmottan Monet
Centre d’Histoire du xixe Siècle; director, Éditions
de la Sorbonne

2 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

(couv.) Thomas EAKINS
(1844-1916)
John Biglin in a Single Scull
1874
Huile sur toile, 61,9 × 40,6 cm
New Haven, Yale University
Art Gallery
Whitney Collections of
Sporting Art, given in memory
of Harry Payne Whitney, B.A.
1894, and Payne Whitney, B.A.
1898, by Francis P. Garvan, B.A.
1897, M.A. (Hon.) 1922
For the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games—the first held in one hundred years in the
French capital—the Musée Marmottan Monet is proud to present, from 4 April to 1 September
2024, an exhibition entitled En jeu ! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930. Home to an impressive
collection and the mecca of Impressionism, the Musée Marmottan Monet depicts, through its
works, a portrait of the society of the second half of the nineteenth century, which gradually
took pleasure in taking advantage of its free time to pursue sporting and leisure activities on
land or water. These new activities, the majority of which were initiated under the Second
Empire, held a key place in the production of the Impressionist group, where natural elements
and Modernity combined. Certain Impressionist paintings from the museum’s collections and
some of Monet’s sketch pads, preserved in-situ, bear witness to the growing popularity of
such pursuits.

Alexandre FALGUIÈRE
(1831-1900) Louise Abbéma, Pierre Bonnard, Antoine Bourdelle, Gustave Courbet, Honoré Daumier, Robert
Lutteurs (détail)
1875
Delaunay, Maurice Denis, Thomas Eakins, Émile Friant, Théodore Géricault, Max Klinger,
Huile sur toile Aristide Maillol, Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Auguste
231,4 x 178,7 cm
Paris, musée d’Orsay Rodin, Félicien Rops, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley, and Kees Van Dongen are some of the masters
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais gathered here to celebrate the interest of artists in the subject of sports, both through the
(musée d’Orsay) / Hervé
Lewandowsk prism of Modernity and societal change.
 Press kit
The exhibition showcases over one-hundred-and-sixty significant works and documents from
private and public collections in Europe, the United States, and Japan (Peggy Guggenheim in
Venice, Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Musée Fabre in
Montpellier, Centre Pompidou, Musée Bourdelle in Paris, Ordrupgaard Museum in Denmark,
and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, etc.).

It benefits from the exceptional and highly generous participation of the following institutions:
the Musée national du Sport in Nice which lent thirty-one works for the occasion, INSEP
(National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance), the Musée d’Orsay and Beaux-Arts
in Paris, the Musée d’art et d’histoire Paul Éluard in Saint-Denis, and the National Gallery of
Art in Washington.

Jean Dominique Antony

METZINGER (1883-1956)
Au vélodrome
1912
Huile sur toile
130,4 x 97,1 cm
Venise, collection Peggy
Guggenheim (Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation,
New York)
© Solomon R. Guggenheim
Foundation, New York

3 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

 Press kit
Sport changed its social and cultural status over the course of the second half of the nineteenth
century. It began to interest painters, sculptors, and photographers who saw in it the expression
of a Modernity that they were already exploring elsewhere. Of aristocratic or bourgeois origin
and imbued with a certain Anglophilia which contributed to its international diffusion on the
continent of Europe, as well as the United States, it became a hobby that continued to attract
the elites, who practiced various sporting activities in their free time and in a range of social
contexts. Horse racing, regattas, lawn tennis, and fencing were some of the sporting pursuits
carried out by sportsmen and gentlemen alike, from which the Impressionists (Édouard Manet,
Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Edgard Degas, and Gustave Caillebotte) drew inspiration for their
paintings. At the same time however, the practice of sport became increasingly accessible to
working-class populations in search of leisure and was thus democratized. The discovery of
sporting activities by a public hitherto deprived of access, became the pretext for a number of
amusing yet cruel caricatures by Honoré Daumier and Félicien Rops.

Claude MONET (1840-1926)

Les Patineurs à Giverny
1899
Huile sur toile
60 x 80 cm
Postdam, Ccollection Hasso
Plattner
© Hasso Planer Collection

Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917)

Course de gentlemen, Avant le
départ
1862
Huile sur toile
48,5 x 61,5 cm
Paris, musée d’Orsay
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais
(musée d’Orsay) / Adrien
Didierjean

4 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930


Maurice DENIS (1870-1943)
Nausicaa, jeu de balle (détail)
1913
Huile sur toile
161 x 106 cm
Nice, musée national du Sport
© Musée national du Sport
Press kit
The progressive increase of free time due to
growing productivity and the enforcement of
labour laws meant that individuals of modest
means across European society could
now practice individual sporting activities
(cycling, athletics) or collective ones (rowing,
football, rugby). Public enthusiasm, fuelled
by spectacular sporting events and media
coverage via photographs, posters, and the
illustrated press, enabled sport to forge a
place for itself in a culture that transformed
sportsmen into athletes, consecrating them
into new modern heroes and the darlings
of the crowds. During this period, Pierre de
Coubertin inaugurated the Olympic Games,
the first edition of which was held in Athens
in 1896, in homage to the ancient Olympic
spirit. Paris hosted the editions of 1900 and
1924. Modern sport also took on a political
dimension based on the emulation between
nations and the celebration of a physical and
moral ideal, where the vitality and strength
of athletes were influenced by gender and
racial issues. White males long held the
monopoly on victory over other races and
women, in particular.
5 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930
The exhibition also questions the cultural
and aesthetic modalities of the Modern
gaze held by artists in relation to archaic
and/or modern sports, in the attention paid
to rules and venues (the open-air setting
for wrestlers, the stadium for ball games,
the ring for boxers, and the velodrome
for cyclists). Furthermore, it explores the
changing social codes of sporting circles
where venues now became the theatre of
physical prowess. Where gymnastics was
once simply a grammar of graduated and
normative movements devoid of rivalry,
essentially practiced within a school or
military framework, sport metamorphosed
into a practice of effort, competition, and
record setting, sanctioned by artists in works
that reinforced the cult of sporting heroes,
relayed by the press.
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Finally, beyond the development of sport in Western societies at the turn of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, the recurrence of sporting subjects in the arts between the 1870s
and 1930s invites us to question the meaning of the identification of artists with the figure
of the sportsman. Whether they were passionate spectators (Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) or
seasoned athletes themselves (Paul Signac), they undoubtedly identified with the qualities
of determination and endurance of these sportspeople who sought to surpass themselves.
Therefore, may we not consider the wrestler, boxer, fencer, or sailor as the metaphorical self-
portrait of the artists struggling too for success and recognition?

6 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Emile Friant (1863-1932) Alcide-Théophile ROBAUDI (1847-1928)

La Lutte (détail) La leçon d’escrime
1899 1887
Huile sur toile, 193,5 x 115,5 cm Huile sur toile
Montpellier, musée Fabre © Musée Fabre de Montpellier Private Collection of Knupp Gallery, Prague
Méditerranée Métropole / photographie Frédéric Jaulmes © Private Collection of Knupp Gallery, Prague
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PRESS
VISUALS

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)

Course de gentlemen, Avant le départ The Biglin Brothers Racing
1862 1872
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
48,5 x 61,5 cm 61,2 x 91,6 cm
Paris, musée d’Orsay Washington, National Gallery of Art, don de Monsieur et
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Adrien Madame Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Didierjean © Washington, National Gallery of Art

7 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)

John Biglin in a Single Scull Les régates à Molesey
1874 1874
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
61,9 × 40,6 cm 66 x 91.5 cm
New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery Paris, musée d’Orsay
Whitney Collections of Sporting Art, given in memory of Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé
Harry Payne Whitney, B.A. 1894, and Payne Whitney, B.A. Lewandowski
1898, by Francis P. Garvan, B.A. 1897, M.A. (Hon.) 1922
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Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900) Ferdinand Gueldry (1858-1945)
Lutteurs Match annuel entre la Société Nautique de la Marne et le Rowing Club
1875 1883
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
231,4 x 178,7 cm 60 x 100 cm
Paris, musée d’Orsay Nogent-sur-Marne, musée intercommunal
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé © musée intercommunal de Nogent-sur-Marne
Lewandowski

8 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Frits Thaulow (1847-1906) Alcide-Théophile Robaudi (1847-1928)

Hiver en Norvège La leçon d’escrime
1886 1887
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
98 x 159 cm Private Collection of Knupp Gallery, Prague
Paris, musée d’Orsay © Private Collection of Knupp Gallery, Prague
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé
Lewandowski
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Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Between Rounds Les Patineurs à Giverny
1898-1899 1899
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
127,3 x 101,3 cm 60 x 80 cm
Philadelphie, Philadelphia Museum of Art, don de Madame Postdam, Collection Hasso Plattner
Thomas Eakins et de Mademoiselle Mary Adeline Williams, 1929 © Hasso Planer Collection
© Philadelphie, Philadelphia Museum of Art

9 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Emile Friant (1863-1932) Paul Signac (1863-1935)

La Lutte Vélodrome Buffallo
1899 1899
Huile sur toile 12 x 18 cm
193,5 x 115,5 cm Paris, Archives Signac
Montpellier, musée Fabre © Droits réservés
© Musée Fabre de Montpellier
Méditerranée Métropole / photographie Frédéric Jaulmes
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Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968) Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (1883-1956)
La Course Au vélodrome
1904 1912
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
32 x 39 cm 130,4 x 97,1 cm
Toulouse, Fondation Bemberg Venise, collection Peggy Guggenheim (Solomon R. Guggenheim
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais / Mathieu Rabeau Foundation, New York)
© ADAGP, Paris © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York
© ADAGP, Paris

10 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Maurice Denis (1870-1943) Robert Delaunay (1885-1941)

Nausicaa, jeu de balle Les Coureurs
1913 vers 1924-1926
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
161 x 106 cm 24 x 33 cm
Nice, musée national du Sport Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie
© Musée national du Sport Photo © BPK, Berlin, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image Staatsgalerie
Stuttgart
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Octave Guillonnet (1872-1967) Camille Bombois (1883-1970)
Partie de tennis Les Lutteurs
1925 vers 1928-1930
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
59 x 72 cm 46,3 x 65 cm
Dijon, musée des Beaux-Arts Paris, Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre de
© Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon/François Jay © ADAGP, Paris création industrielle
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais /
Georges Meguerditchian
© ADAGP, Paris

11 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Marcel Gromaire (1892-1971) André Lhote (1885-1962)

Le Joueur de tennis Partie de rugby ou les Footballeurs
1932 1re moitié du xxe siècle, peut-être en 1937
Aquarelle Huile sur toile
43 x 31,5 cm 89,7 x 116,3 cm
Paris, collection particulière Saint-Quentin, musée Antoine Lecuyer
© Galerie de la Présidence – Paris © musée Antoine Lecuyer, Saint-Quentin
© ADAGP, Paris © ADAGP, Paris
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) et Chaix Imp. (atelier Clémentine-Hélène Dufau (1869-1937)
Chéret ?) Partie de pelote basque
La Chaîne Simpson 1903
1896 Impression sur papier
Chromolithographie 161 x 110 cm
86,5 x 112,5 cm Paris, Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, 1-AFF-002456
Nice, musée national du Sport
© Musée national du Sport

12 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

Jules Abel Faivre (1867-1945) et J. Barreau imprimeur Georges Goursat, dit Sem (1863-1934) et l’imprimeur Draeger
Sports d’hiver, Chamonix Cannes, La ville des sports élégants
1905 années 1920
Lithographie entoilée Lithographie entoilée
108,2 x 76 cm 110 x 79 cm
Nice, musée national du Sport Nice, musée national du Sport
© Musée national du Sport © Musée national du Sport
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13 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— Games! Artists and Sport: 1870-1930

PRESS CONTACT
Claudine Colin Communication
Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)
Between Rounds (détail)
T. +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01
1898-1899
Huile sur toile Colleen Guérinet
127,3 x 101,3 cm colleen@claudinecolin.com
Philadelphie, Philadelphia Museum of Art,
don de Madame Thomas Eakins et de
Mademoiselle Mary Adeline Williams, 1929
Christelle Maureau
© Philadelphie, Philadelphia Museum of Art christelle@claudinecolin.com