Provenance, Exhibitions, References

Gustave Courbet
Portrait du sculpteur Louis-Joseph Leboeuf, 1863
Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm
Signed and dated lower left: 1863 / Gustave Courbet
Fernier no. 355
Provenance
Louis-Joseph Leboeuf, Paris (1863) (1) ▪ Félix Giroud, Père, Paris (before 1905) (2) ▪ BernheimJeune, Paris (3) ▪ Dr. Julius Elias, Berlin (by 1908–[d.] 1927) (4) ▪ Dr. Franz Ullstein, Berlin (ca.
1930–1936) (5) ▪ Dr. Kurt Ullstein, London (1936–1939) (6) ▪ Lisbeth Malek-Ullstein, Estoril, Portugal
(1939 until at least 1941) (7) ▪ W. S. Kundig, Geneva (1941) (8) ▪ Dr. Fritz Nathan, St. Gall (by
1941/42) (9) ▪ Emil Bührle, Zurich (23 May 1942 until [d.] 28 November 1956) (10) ▪ Given by the
heirs of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, no. 25 (1960).
(1) Most probably a gift of the artist in exchange of a sculpture representing Courbet, made by Leboeuf and
exhibited in the Salon of 1861 (now at the Musée Courbet, Ornans, inv. AGC S.AA 003.52).
(2) Catalogue de tableaux modernes [Vente Félix Giroud père], Hôtel Drouot, Paris (28–29 March 1905), no. 18
(sold for FF 805), Fernier no. 355.
(3) AStEGB, Inventory Card Courbet, Louis-Joseph Leboeuf.
(4) Richard Muther, Courbet, Berlin 1908, p. 58 (ill.); Archive Kunsthaus Zurich, Korrespondenz Ausstellungen,
Besitzer/Händler, Schachtel 1935, Letter from Dr. Grete Ring, Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, to Wilhelm
Wartmann, [director of the] Kunsthaus Zurich, 19 October 1935: has contacted Mrs. Julie Elias, the widow of
Dr. Julius Elias, who establishes a direct contact to the painting's new owner, Dr. Franz Ullstein, Berlin.
(5) Archive Kunsthaus Zurich, Korrespondenz Ausstellungen, Besitzer/Händler, Schachtel 1935, Letter from the
office of Dr. Franz Ullstein (Frau Udelsmann), Berlin, to Kunsthaus Zurich, 16 November 1935, confirming the
loan of the painting to the planned exhibition in Zurich and stating, that Dr. Ullstein has bought the painting
from Dr. Elias about 5 years ago.
(6) Son of the above, Archive Kunsthaus Zurich, Korrespondenz Ausstellungen, Besitzer/Händler, Schachtel 1936,
Letter from Dr. Franz Ullstein, Berlin, to Dr. Wilhelm Wartmann, Kunsthaus Zurich, 29 January 1936,
informing Wartmann that his son, Dr. Kurt Ullstein, London, will dispose of the painting after the end of the
Zurich exhibition. The painting remains on deposit in the Kunsthaus Zurich, Archive Kunsthaus Zurich,
miscellaneous correspondence regarding the painting with various members of the Ullstein family in Estoril,
Geneva, London, and São Paolo, February 1936–August 1941.
(7) Sister of the above, Archive Kunsthaus Zurich, Allg. Korrespondenz, vol. 92., Letter from Wilhelm Wartmann,
Kunshaus Zurich, to Dr. F. Ullstein, Pension Perrotti, Bvd. des Tranchées, Geneva, 3 February 1941,
confirming the receipt of a letter dated 1 November 1939 from Dr. Kurt Ullstein, London, stating that
ownership of the painting has passed to his sister, Mrs. Lisbeth Malek, née Ullstein.
(8) Antiquarian, established in Geneva, 45 rue du Rhône, Archive Kunsthaus Zurich, Allg. Korrespondenz, vol. 93,
Letter from Dr. Wilhelm Wartmann, Kunsthaus Zurich, to W. S. Kundig, Geneva, 29 May 1941, announcing
shipment of the painting following instruction from Mrs. Lisbeth Malek, and Notification of transport of the
painting with Neuchâtel Insurance Company with a declared value of CHF 10.000, 31 May 1941.
(9) AStEGB, Inventory Card Courbet, Louis-Joseph Leboeuf; Fritz Nathan, Zehn Jahre Tätigkeit in St. Gallen
1936–1946, St. Gall 1946, p. 30 (ill.).
(10)Acquired from the above in 1942 for CHF 26.000, Inventory Card as above.
Exhibitions
Gustave Courbet (†), Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin 1906, no. 7. ▪ Gustave Courbet, Kunsthaus Zurich
1935–36, no. 72. ▪ Ausländische Kunst in Zürich, Kunsthaus Zurich 1943, no. 57. ▪ Europäische
Kunst 13.–20. Jahrhundert aus Zürcher Sammlungen, Kunsthaus Zurich 1950, p 24.
References
Richard Muther, Courbet, Berlin 1908, p. 58 (ill.). ▪ Haavard Rostrup, "Om nogle mindre kendte
arbejder af Gustave Courbet", in Tilskueren, 1936, pp. 183 (ill.)–184. ▪ Fritz Nathan, Zehn Jahre
Tätigkeit in St. Gallen 1936–1946, St. Gall 1946, p. 30 (ill.). ▪ Courbet raconté par lui-même et par
ses amis, vol. 1, Geneva 1948. ▪ Haavard Rostrup, Meddelelser fra Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek,
Copenhagen 1967, p. 38 (ill.). ▪ Robert Fernier, La vie et l'œuvre de Gustave Courbet, Catalogue
Status as per January 2016
www.buehrle.ch / [email protected]
page 1/2
raisonné, vol. 1, Peintures 1819–1865, Lausanne & Paris 1977, no. 355 (ill.). ▪ Linda Nochlin,
"Gustave Courbet, Portrait of Armand Gautier" [entry for cat. no. 150], in Gabriel P. Weisberg (ed.),
The Realist Tradition, French Painting and Drawing 1830–1900, (exh. cat.) Cleveland Museum of Art
etc. 1981–82, p. 177. ▪ Pierre Courthion, L'opera completa di Courbet, Milan 1985, no. 339 (ill.;
French edition: Tout l'œuvre peint de Courbet, Paris 1987; 21996). ▪ Esther Tisa Francini etc.,
Fluchtgut, Raubgut, Der Transfer von Kulturgütern in und über die Schweiz 1933–1945 und die Frage
der Restitution, Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz–Zweiter Weltkrieg, ed., Zurich 2001, pp.
79 (n. 116), 101 (n. 243)–102. ▪ Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Bernhard Echte, Walter Feilchenfeldt
(ed.), vol. 3, Die Ausstellungen 1905–1908, Wädenswil 2013, pp. 150 (ill.), 158
Catalogues of the Bührle Collection: 1966 & 1971, no. 25; 1973/86, no. 26; 1994/95, p. 37;
2004/05: no. 41. ▪ Exhibitions of the Bührle Collection: Zurich 1958, no. 131; Munich 1958–59, no.
30; Edinburgh 1961, no. 8; London 1961, no. 8; Zurich 2010, no. 25.
Catalogues, exhibitions and articles cited in full see http://www.buehrle.ch/pdf/egbcat.pdf.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Status as per January 2016
www.buehrle.ch / [email protected]
page 2/2