Provenance
1Dr. Georges Viau Paris Maison no. I-105; this entry is corroborated by a letter from Paul Cassirer, Berlin, to Paul Durand Ruel, Paris, 20 December 1900 which confirms that a painting, later identified as Le café, had just arrived along with 4 other paintings by Daumier in the possession of M. Viau, Kunstsalon Bruno & Paul Cassirer, vol. 1, «Das Beste aus aller Welt zeigen», Die Ausstellungen 1898–1901, Bernhard Echte, Walter Feilchenfeldt (eds.), Wädenswil 2011, p. 385. The painting, however, is not listed in the sale catalogues of the Viau collection at Durand-Ruel, Paris, in 1907, nor does it figure under Viau's name at the Exposition Daumier, Syndicat de la presse artistique (Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts), Paris 1901, where, according to Maison, it was shown as no. 85. This assertion is further complicated by the fact that the measurements of 22 x 40 cm given in that catalogue for no. 85 differ quite considerably from the size of the present painting.
2Sir James F. Murray Aberdeen • before 1927 Catalogue of the Collection of Highly Important Modern Pictures and Drawings, The Property of Sir James Murray, (sale cat.) Christie's, London (29 April 1927), no. 38.
3M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. New York • 1927 Acquired at the above sale, AStEGB, E-mail message from Christie's London, to Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, 14 January 2008.
4Dr. Alexander Lewin Guben & Monte Carlo • by 1938 until [d.] 1942 Honderd Jaar Fransche Kunst, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1938, no. 86; as the paintings lender is given: Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam. The painting entered the Amsterdamsche Kunsthandel Paul Cassirer & Co. N.V., Amsterdam, for deposit on 17 September 1938; as its owner, A. Lewin was identified in the gallery's inventory book. It was transferred subsequently to the Kunstmuseum St. Gall on 27 October 1938, AStEGB, Letter from Walter Feilchenfeldt (son of Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt), Zurich, to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, 10 June 2008, quoting the inventory book of Amsterdamsche Kunsthandel Paul Cassirer & Co. N.V., Amsterdam, entry no. 77 of 17-9-1938, in the hand-writing of Dr. Helmut Lütjens, manager of Cassirer's Amsterdam branch.
5Mrs. Alice J. Kurz Hastings-on-Hudson (N.Y.) • 1942–1947 Daughter of the above, by inheritance; the painting had remained on deposit at the Kunstmuseum St. Gall, from 1938 until at least 1947, Letter as above, n. (4).
6Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt Zurich • 1947/48 Received from the above, as a fee for taking care of the paintings of her late father during the war years; Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt was asking a fee of CHF 60.000 (including interests) and valued the painting as equivalent to this amount, Letter as above, n. (4), quoting a letter from Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, to Alice Kurz, 5 August 1946; the painting finally entered into Feilchenfeldt's possession early in October 1947, Letter as above, n. (4), quoting a letter of Marianne Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, to Grete Ring, London, 8 October 1947, according to which the painting had become the possession of Walter Feilchenfeldt, in lieu of the above fee.
7Dr. Fritz Nathan St. Gall • 1947/48 AStEGB, Entry Book I, 15 February 1948
8Emil Bührle Zurich • 15 February 1948 Acquired from the above, Entry Book as above, n. (7). Walter Feilchenfeldt and Fritz Nathan often were working closely together when approaching Emil Bührle in the years until 1948. Whilst having been granted immigration to Switzerland at the outbreak of the war, Feilchenfeldt was denied a work permit and could, therefore, not act officially as an art dealer. Contrary to Feilchenfeldt, Fritz Nathan, formerly established as an art dealer in Munich, lived in Switzerland since 1936 and had obtained a work permit. As in other cases, the sale of an artwork from Feilchenfeldt to a Swiss collector passed via Nathan, without any written documents implicating Feilchenfeldt as a partner of the transaction, AStEGB, Letter from Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, to Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, 24 February 2008.
9Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich 1960 Inv. 29.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Karl-Eric Maison, Honoré Daumier, Catalogue raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, 2 vol., Paris, 1967-1968.
Exhibitions
1908Exposition Daumier Galerie Eugène Blot • Paris • 1908 no. 19.
1901Sonderausstellung Honoré Daumier Kunstsalon Bruno & Paul Cassirer • Berlin • 1901 (no cat.).
1914Art français Musée d'Art et d'Histoire • Geneva • 1914 no. 35.
1918Tableaux, dessins et sculptures de L'Ecole française du XIXème siècle Musée d'Art et d'Histoire • Geneva • 1918 no. 51.
1925French Art Arts Club • Oxford • 1925 no cat.
1933Schilderijen van Delacroix tot Cézanne en Vincent van Gogh Museum Boymans • Rotterdam • 1933–34 no. 15.
1938Honderd Jaar Fransche Kunst Stedelijk Museum • Amsterdam • 1938 no. 86.
1950Europäische Kunst 13.–20. Jahrhundert aus Zürcher Sammlungen Kunsthaus Zurich • 1950 p. 24.
1958Sammlung Emil G. Bührle, Festschrift zu Ehren von Emil G. Bührle zur Eröffnung des Kunsthaus-Neubaus und Katalog der Sammlung Emil G. Bührle Kunsthaus Zurich • 1958 no. 126.
1958Hauptwerke der Sammlung Emil Georg Bührle–Zürich Haus der Kunst • Munich • 1958–59 no. 34.
1999Steinlen et l'époque 1900 Musée Rath • Geneva • 1999–2000 pp. 88 (ill.), 180.
2010Van Gogh, Cézanne, Monet, Die Sammlung Bührle zu Gast im Kunsthaus Zürich Kunsthaus Zurich • 2010 no. 29.
2017Chefs-d'oeuvre de la collection Bührle, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Van Gogh… Fondation de l'Hermitage • Lausanne • 2017 no. 7.
2017Gefeiert & verspottet, Französische Malerei 1820–1880 Kunsthaus Zurich • 2017–18 no. 31.
2019Daumier – PettibonKunstmuseum Winterthur (Reinhart am Stadtgarten) • 2019 no. 4.
References
1908Erich Klossowski Honoré Daumier Munich • 1908 • no. 356, fig. 75, top (21923, fig. 126).
1923André Fontainas La peinture de Daumier Paris • 1923 • ill. (no no.).
1927Eduard Fuchs Der Maler Daumier Munich • 1927 • no. 30B (ill., bottom).
1938Jacques Lassaigne Daumier Paris • 1938 • p. 43 (ill.; 21947; English edition: New York & London 1938, 21947).
1950Marcel Fischer Daumier, Der Maler Berne • 1950 • fig. 23.
1954Jean Adhémar Honoré Daumier Paris • 1954 • fig. 100 (German edition).
1968Karl Eric Maison Honoré Daumier, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings London • 1968 • vol. 1 The Paintings no. I–105.
1971Luigi Barbini • Gabriele Mandel L’opera pittorica completa di Daumier Milan • 1971 • fig. 28, no. 135 (ill., German edition: Das gemalte Gesamtwerk von Daumier, Lucerne etc. 1971 • French edition: Pierre Georgel, Gabriel Mandel, Tout l'œuvre peint de Daumier, Paris 1972).
1973Leopold Reidemeister etc. Stiftung Sammlung Emil G. Bührle • Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle • Foundation Emil G. Bührle Collection Zurich & Munich • 1973 • no. 22 (ill.; 21986).
1994Emil Maurer Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Zürich Bern • 1994 • p. 37 (English edition: Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Bern 1995).
2005Lukas Gloor, Marco Goldin (ed.)Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Catalogue vol. 2 • Conegliano & Zurich • 2005 • no. 45 (ill.; German edition: Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Katalog • Italian edition: Fondazione Collezione E.G. Bührle, Catalogo). ▪
2011Bernhard Echte • Walter Feilchenfeldt (ed.)Kunstsalon Bruno & Paul Cassirer vol. 1 «Das Beste aus aller Welt zeigen», Die Ausstellungen 1898–1901 Wädenswil • 2011 • pp. 385, 395 (ill.)–396.
2021Lukas Gloor «The Holdings of the Emil Bührle Collection: Illustrated List of All 633 Purchases» in The Emil Bührle Collection: History, Full Catalogue and 70 Masterpieces Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (ed.) • Munich • 2021 • no. 156 (ill.).