About the Artwork
New technology allowed for inexpensive printing and the wide distribution of newspapers, books, and advertisements in the late nineteenth century. Maurice Denis created a poster advertising the newspaper La Dépêche de Toulouse. The owner of the paper was so pleased with the swirling excitement of the art nouveau-styled poster that he asked Denis to create this painting as a larger and more permanent image to be hung in his office.
La Depêche de Toulouse
1892
Maurice Denis
1870-1943
French
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 51 3/4 × 35 1/4 inches (131.4 × 89.5 cm) Framed: 67 3/4 inches × 51 inches × 3 1/4 inches (172.1 × 129.5 × 8.3 cm)
Paintings
European Modern Art to 1970
Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
1985.15
Restricted
Markings
Signed, center left, vertically: MAUDENIS
Inscribed, throughout, as part of composition, on the newspapers: LA DEPÊCHE | Editions
Provenance
1892, Arthur Huc (Toulouse, France);by descent to Mme. Chaviat (Toulouse, France);
private collection (Switzerland);
(Jean Pierre Selz, Lynven, Inc., New York, New York, USA);
1985-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Barazzetti-Demoulin, S. Maurice Denis, 25 Novembvre 1870-13 Novembre 1943. Paris, 1945, p. 279.
Bulletin of the DIA 62, no. 3: Annual Reports (1986): p. 11 (pl. VII), p. 21.
Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art, et al.Tokyo, 1989, pp. 109, 226, cat. 77 (ill.).
Leonard, Anne. Arabesque. Exh. cat., Clark Art Institute. Willamston, Massachusetts, 2019, p. 37, cat. no. 12 (fig. 40 ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Maurice Denis, La Depêche de Toulouse, 1892, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 1985.15.
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