Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009874A Night Class
About the Artwork
The artist himself described his painting of a night class: "Under smoldering electric lights, a model in historical costume poses for eager, ambitious art students. A few of them might have real talent, some could become commercial artists, but most, unfortunately, have no future in art at all." Although trained in a conservative academic style, Vibert here pokes fun at his own artistic tradition. Vibert was fond of caricaturing the pretentious elements of 19th-century French society. The work was shown at the 1881 Salon exhibition.
Provenance
Alonzo J. Tinsley. New York, Sotheby's PB 84 sale, 18 May 1977 (lot 341), The Life Drawing Class, signed, panel, 24œ x 18 in. Shepherd Gallery, New York. Bought in June 1977 by Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Bequeathed to the CMA in 1980.
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981). Light: Art, Technology, and Society in the Industrial Age, 1750-1900. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (April 7-July 29, 2001). Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (organizer) (September 2-December 2, 2012).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jehan-Georges Vibert (French, 1840–1902)
- Date
- c. 1881
- Medium
- oil on wood panel
- Dimensions
- Framed: 97.2 x 82.5 x 12.5 cm (38 1/4 x 32 1/2 x 4 15/16 in.); Unframed: 60.8 x 45.4 cm (23 15/16 x 17 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
- Accession no.
- 1980.292
More by Jehan Georges Vibert in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009874
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