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Young Girls at the Piano
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

Title

Young Girls at the Piano

Artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

Date

c. 1889

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

22 × 18 1/4 in. (55.9 × 46.4 cm)

Classification

Painting

Credit Line

Museum purchase

Object Number

1944.20

On View

On view

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, January 3, 1890–March 17, 1892;
Purchased from Galerie Durand-Ruel by André Mellerio (1862–1943), Paris, March 17, 1892.
Jean-Henri Laroche (1866–1935), Paris;
By descent to Jacques Laroche (1904–1976), Paris, by 1928;
Probably purchased at his sale, Tableaux modernes provenant de las villa Sauge prouprée à Deauville, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 7–8, 1928 by Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, 1928–February 17, 1944;
Purchased from Paul Rosenberg & Co., through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1944.

Exhibition History

Renoir, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 1892, no. 24.

Renoir, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1899, no. 95.

Exposition des collectionneurs au profit des Amis du Luxembourg, Salle de la rue de la Ville l’Evêque, Paris, 1924.

Cincinnati Art Museum, 1933.

McClees Gallery, Philadelphia, 1935.

Renoir Centennial Exhibition, Duveen Galleries, New York, November 8–December 6, 1941, no. 49.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, October 20–November 20, 1944.

Nebraska Art Association 56th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, Lincoln, March 3–31, 1946, no. 194.

Two Sides of the Medal: French Painting from Gérôme to Gauguin, Detroit Institute of Arts, September 28–November 6, 1954, no. 63.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841–1919: paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 14–August 21, 1955; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, September 1–October 20, 1955, no. 28.

Turn of the Century – Exhibition of Masterpieces, 1880–1920, Denver Art Museum, October 1–November 8, 1956, no. 36.

Masterpieces Recalled, Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, February 5–March 2, 1957, no. 24.

Notable Collections at Joslyn, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, November 30, 1956–January 1, 1957.

Renoir, Wildenstein & Co., New York, April 8–May 10, 1958, no. 48.

Art from Ingres to Pollock; painting and sculpture since neoclassicism, University of California, Berkeley, March 6–April 3, 1960.

Ways to Look, Des Moines Art Center, August 19–September 26, 1960.

La peinture française dans les Collections américaines, Galerie des beaux-arts, May 13–September 15, 1966, no. 76.

Mary Cassatt Among the Impressionists, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, April 10–June 1, 1969, no. 44.

One Hundred Years of Impressionism: A Tribute to Paul Durand-Ruel, Wildenstein & Co., New York, April 2–May 9, 1970, no. 78.

Paintings by Renoir, Art Institute of Chicago, February 3–April 1, 1973, no. 55.

Angels and Urchins: Images of Children at the Joslyn, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, November 15, 1980–January 4, 1981, no. 52.

Renoir, Hayward Gallery, London, January 30–April 21, 1958; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, May 14–September 2, 1985, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 9, 1985–January 5, 1986, no. 84.

Renoir: Master Impressionist, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, July 30–September 11, 1994; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, September 18–October 30, 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, November 5, 1994–January 15, 1995.

Renoir’s Women, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, September 23, 2005–January 8, 2006, no. 17.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La maturità tra classico e moderno, Complesso Monumentale del Vittoriano, Rome, March 7–June 29, 2008.

Madden Museum of Art, Greenwood Village, Colorado, October 5, 2009–February 24, 2010.

Joslyn Treasures: Well Traveled and Rarely Seen, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, June 3–August 28, 2011.

Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, October 14, 2022–January 8, 2023; Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from Joslyn Art Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, February 22–May 28, 2023.

Published References

Renoir, exh. cat. (Paris: Durand-Ruel, 1892), no. 24.

Renoir, exh. cat. (Paris: Durand-Ruel, 1899), no. 95.

Michel Florisoone, Renoir (Paris: Hypérion, 1937), 74, (repro.).

Renoir Centennial Exhibition, exh. cat. (New York: Duveen Galleries, 1941), 71, (repro.).

“Omaha Acquires Important Renoir Interior,” The Art Digest 18, March 15, 1944, 10, (repro.).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, exh. cat. (San Francisco: Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1944), 26, (repro.).

Michel Drucker, Renoir (Paris: Éditions Pierre Tisné, 1944), 81–82, 209, (repro.).

Rosamund Frost, Renoir (New York: Hyperon Press, 1944), 30, (repro.).

Nebraska Art Association 56th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, exh. cat. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Art Galleries, 1946), no. 194.

The Two Sides of the Medal: French Painting from Gérôme to Gauguin, exh. cat. (Detroit: Detroit Insitute of Arts, 1954), 42, (repro.).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841–1919: paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1955), 48, (repro.).

Michel Drucker, Renoir (Paris: Éditions Pierre Tisné, 1955), pl. 95, (repro.).

Arthur Miller, “Renoir Show at Museum,” Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1955, 1, 7, (repro.).

Turn of the Century – Exhibition of Masterpieces, 1880–1920, exh. cat. (Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1956), no. 36, (repro.).

Pogány Kálmán, “Les dessins de Renoir au Musée des beaux-arts,” Acta Historiae Artium Academiae Scientarium Hungaricae 4 (1956): 118–22.

Masterpieces Recalled, exh. cat. (New York: Paul Rosenberg & Co., 1957), 28, (repro.).

Renoir, exh. cat. (New York: Wildenstein & Co., 1958), 62, (repro.).

Art from Ingres to Pollock; painting and sculpture since neoclassicism, exh cat. (Berkeley: University of California, 1960), 14, (repro.).

Philip Gurney, “Renoir Combined Sincerity, Simplicity in Art,” Dundee and West Omaha Sun, December 29, 1960, 28, (repro.).

Philip Gurney, “Treasures at the Joslyn,” Omaha World-Herald, March 14, 1965, cover, 30, (repro.).

La peinture française dans les Collections américaines, exh. cat. (Bordeaux: Galerie des beaux-arts, 1966), 68, (repro.).

“Joslyn Renoir to Appear in Exhibition in Bordeaux,” Omaha World-Herald, April 28, 1966, 3.

Georges Charensol, “Le retour des enfants prodigues,” Les Nouvelles littéraires, May 19, 1966, 8, (repro.).

Great Art Treasures in America’s Smaller Museums (New York: G. P. Putna & Sons, 1967), 109, (repro.).

Nancy Wise Hess and Stephanie Grauman Wolf, The Sounds of Time: Western Man and His Music (New York: Lippincott, 1968), (repro.).

Mary Cassatt Among the Impressionists, exh. cat. (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1969), 30, (repro.).

One Hundred Years of Impressionism: A Tribute to Paul Durand-Ruel, exh. cat. (New York: Wildenstein & Co., 1970), no. 78, (repro.).

Françoise Daulty, Auguste Renoir: Catalogue Raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. 1, Figures 1860–1890 (Lausanne: Éditions Durand-Ruel, 1971), no. 561, (repro.).

Ralph Fabri, Artist’s Guide to Composition (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1971), 116, (repro.).

Jacci Dee, “Omaha girls’ thrill ‘em in Chicago,” The Metro, March 1, 1973.

Doug Smith, “Chicago Renoir retrospective draws 200,000,” Dundee and West Omaha Sun, March 22, 1973, 20A, (repro.).

“Renoir’s paradise stirs Chicago’s dreams, tears,” Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1973.

John Maxon, Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), no. 55, (repro.).

Françoise Lesure, Claude Debussy (Geneva: Editions Minkoff, 1975), 51, (repro.).

Keith Wheldon, Renoir and His Art (Middlesex: Hamlyn, 1975), 97, (repro.).

Hollister Sturges, Angels and Urchins: Images of Children at the Joslyn, exh. cat. (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1980), 60, 62 (repro.).

Bernard Dunstan, Paintings Methods of the Impressionists (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1983), 86, (repro.).

Renoir, exh. cat. (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1985), 256, (repro.).

Beverly Parisot, “Renoir Retrospective Is Called Treat of a Lifetime,” Omaha World-Herald, August 4, 1985, 29, (repro.).

Holliday T. Day and Hollister Sturges, eds., Joslyn Art Museum: Paintings & Sculpture from the European & American Collections (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1987), 106, 107, 108–9, (repro.).

Sophie Monneret, Renoir (Paris: Éditions du Chêne, 1989), 1123–13, (repro.).

John Russell Taylor, Impressionist Dreams: The Artists and the World They Painted (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990), 130 (repro.).

Graham W. J. Beal et. al., Fifty Favorites from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1994), 80–81, (repro.).

John House, Renoir: Master Impressionist, exh. cat. (Sydney: Art Exhibitions Australia, 1994).

Impressionist and Modern Art, Part I, November 13, 1997 (New York: Sotheby’s, 1997), 82, (repro.).

Anne Dumas and John Collins, Renoir’s Women, exh. cat. (London: Merrell Publishers; Columbus: Columbus Museum of Art, 2005), 28, (repro.).

Kathleen Adler, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La maturità tra classico e moderno, exh. cat. (Milan: Skira, 2008).

Susan Alyson Stein and Asher Ethan Miller, Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 131, (repro.).

Richard R. Brettel, Paul Hayes Tucker, and Natalie H. Less, The Robert Lehman Collection, vol. 3, Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Paintings (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Princeton: Princeton Univeristy Press, 2009), 103, (repro.).

Taylor J. Acosta, European Paintings and Sculpture from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 2020), 17, 24, 26, 148–51, (repro.).