Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets (1893): Art, History and Details

Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets (1893) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Gustave Caillebotte is known for a realist style that broke from the heavy, visible brushstrokes of his contemporaries. This drawing is a study for the figure of Eugène Lamy, a close friend of the artist with whom he is seen in conversation in the 1893 painting Bank of the Seine at Petit Gennevilliers, Winter (private collection). Using sketchy, diagonal marks, Caillebotte recorded light and shadow on Lamy’s jacket, aligning with the Impressionists’ interest in capturing natural effects and fleeting moments from everyday life.

Object facts

• Title: Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets
• Date: 1893
• Creator attribution: Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black chalk on Arches modern laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 47.6 x 31.5 cm (18 3/4 x 12 3/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2020.260

A detail from the museum

Caillebotte and the subject of this drawing, his friend Eugène Lamy, shared a love of yachting and the artist’s suburban home was located near a popular club in Argenteuil.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Berhaut, Marie. Gustave Caillebotte, sa vie et son œuvre: Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels. Paris: La Bibliothèque des arts, 1978.
• Chardeau, Jean. Les Dessins de Caillebotte. Paris: Hermé, 1989.
• Gustave Caillebotte, 1848–1894: Dessins, études, peintures. Exh. cat. Paris: Brame & Loreanceau, 1989.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.