Valentine Tessier
- Depicted
- Valentine Tessier, French, 1892–1981
- Date
- 1929–30
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- Paris, Île-de-France region, France, Europe
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 57 3/4 x 35 1/2 in. (146.7 x 90.2 cm)
framed: 62 7/8 x 40 5/8 x 2 3/4 in. (159.7 x 103.2 x 7 cm) - Credit Line
- Bequest of Morton D. May
- Rights
- © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Object Number
- 844:1983
NOTES
French actress Valentine Tessier is depicted in a pose and outfit invented by Max Beckmann. The artist saw her perform in Paris in the play Amphitryon 38, an updated take on an ancient Greek legend. Tessier played Alcmene, who betrays her husband and gives birth to the future hero Hercules. In this painting, classical drapes on Tessier’s dress and her fur stole on the foreground table reference the costumes and props of Amphitryon 38. Likewise, Tessier’s left hand forms a gesture of marital infidelity, a major theme of the play. Inspired by the actress as well as her character, this painting blends reality and fiction, theater and myth.
Provenance
- 1950
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; New York, NY, USA [1]
1950 - 1956
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY, by inheritance from the artist
1956 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from the Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, NY, on consignment from Mathilde Q. Beckmann [2]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] Max Beckmann kept lists of most of his paintings which often included the dates that they were worked on and notes on who purchased them. This painting appears on Beckmann's 1929 Paris list. Beckmann notes that he completed the canvas on February 10, 1930. Beckmann included the painting in several European exhibitions in the 1930s and in the Beckmann retrospective at the City Art Museum in 1948 ["Max Beckmann, 1948." St. Louis: The City Art Museum of Saint Louis, 1948, cat. no. 19]. The 1949 catalogue raisonné lists the painting in the collection of the artist, New York [Reifenberg, Benno, and Wilhelm Hausenstein. "Max Beckmann." Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1949, cat. no. 273].
[2] Per invoice from Catherine Viviano Gallery to Morton D. May dated June 5, 1956 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. After Curt Valentin's death in 1954, the artist's widow, Mathilde Q. Beckmann, consigned Beckmann's work to the Catherine Viviano Gallery [letter from Mathilde Q. Beckmann to Morton D. May, dated December 20, 1955, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; New York, NY, USA [1]
1950 - 1956
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY, by inheritance from the artist
1956 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from the Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, NY, on consignment from Mathilde Q. Beckmann [2]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] Max Beckmann kept lists of most of his paintings which often included the dates that they were worked on and notes on who purchased them. This painting appears on Beckmann's 1929 Paris list. Beckmann notes that he completed the canvas on February 10, 1930. Beckmann included the painting in several European exhibitions in the 1930s and in the Beckmann retrospective at the City Art Museum in 1948 ["Max Beckmann, 1948." St. Louis: The City Art Museum of Saint Louis, 1948, cat. no. 19]. The 1949 catalogue raisonné lists the painting in the collection of the artist, New York [Reifenberg, Benno, and Wilhelm Hausenstein. "Max Beckmann." Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1949, cat. no. 273].
[2] Per invoice from Catherine Viviano Gallery to Morton D. May dated June 5, 1956 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. After Curt Valentin's death in 1954, the artist's widow, Mathilde Q. Beckmann, consigned Beckmann's work to the Catherine Viviano Gallery [letter from Mathilde Q. Beckmann to Morton D. May, dated December 20, 1955, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
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