The Bidet

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Paris, France [1]

by 1935 – 1939
Ambroise Vollard (1866 – 1939), Paris, France [2]

1939 – 2010
Heirs of Ambroise Vollard, Paris, France, by inheritance [3]

2010 – 2012
W.M. Brady & Co., New York, NY, USA, purchased at the sale of "Treasures from the Vollard Vault," Sotheby's Paris, June 29, 2010, lot no. 48

2012 – 2013
Carolyn Bullard, Dallas, TX, purchased from W.M. Brady & Co. [4]

2013 –
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Carolyn Bullard [5]


Notes:
[1] In 1918, the year after he died, Degas's collection was sold in a series of sales. Works in this collection were inventoried and stamped with a Degas atelier stamp [Lugt 657]. This stamp appears on the reverse side of this work's original mount.

[2] Monotypes figured in at least two posthumous sales from Degas's studio on November 22-28, 1918 ("Scenes de maisons closes, 16 pieces, 8500 fr.-"); and June 12, 1934 ("9+2 d'estampes et monotypes"). It is not clear when Vollard acquired this impression, but he reproduced it in 1935 [Samosatenus, Lucianus; trans. by Pierre Louÿs. "Mimes des courtisanes de Lucien." Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1935, plate III (facing p. 56)].

[3] The original mount bears a stamp made for a 1981 sale of the collection of Erich Chlomovitch which never took place. A 2006 ruling by the French high court declared Vollard's heirs the work's rightful owners by inheritance.

[4] Correspondence from Carolyn Bullard to E. Wyckoff, August 28, 2013 [SLAM document files]

[5] Bill of sale from Carolyn Bullard dated July 19, 2013 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collection Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 23, 2013.