Purchase and gift, 1965-1998
Access to items in the Art Collection requires some advance notice. Access to paintings and sculpture is by appointment only.
Helen Young, 1998-1999
Carlton Lake (born 1915, Brockton, Massachusetts; died 2006, Austin, Texas) was the curator of the French Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. He was the Paris art critic for the
Lake graduated from the Boston University College of Liberal Arts (1936), and Columbia University (M.A. in Italian, 1937). He did doctoral studies at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, as well as at the École du Louvre, the Sorbonne, and the Collège de France. He was also in the Marines during World War II.
Lake started collecting in 1936, and when he moved to France after World War II, his collecting advanced and broadened. He put together a major research collection by acquiring primary works, as well as the background material on the writers and their environment, which give context to those primary works. The entire Lake Collection at the HRHRC (of which the Carlton Lake Art Collection is one part) includes manuscripts, books, music, and photography.
Carlton Lake curated the HRHRC exhibitions
Lake was a full-time resident of Paris 1950-1975, and then divided his time between France and the U.S. 1976-1984. Before his position as curator of the French Collection, Lake served as a consultant to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center from 1969 to 1975.
Shavelson, Michael B.
Basbanes, Nicholas A.
The Carlton Lake Art Collection is comprised mainly of works by modern French artists, ca. 1772-1985 (bulk ca. 1910-1935). Most of the works are on paper; there are a few paintings and sculptural works. Almost all of the artists had some connection to the French literary scene. The works are arranged alphabetically by artist, with a few exceptions.
Works by a few artists, including Christian Bérard, Félix Hilaire Buhot, Jean Cocteau, Raoul Dufy, André Hellé, Jean Hugo, Valentine Hugo, Berthe Morisot, Armand Rassenfosse, Odilon Redon, Arthur Rimbaud (as both artist and subject), Sir Francis Rose, and Ivan Thiele dominate the collection. In addition to these artists, other prominent artists whose works are present include Ferdinand Bac, Paterne Berrichon, Pierre Bonnard, Alexander Calder, Paul Cézanne, Richard Cosway, Alexandre Dumas fils, Euène Ionesco, Henri de Groux, Max Jacob, Augustus John, Marcel Marceau, Marie Monnier, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Leo Stein, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Cross references to artists are provided within the alphabetically arranged folder list for a few works that have been filed by subject, or to other artist attributions.
Works by Jean Cocteau make up nearly one-fourth of this collection, and are arranged in the following groups: Portraits (alphabetical by subject, followed by unidentified portrait subjects); Drawings for Theatrical Productions; Drawings for Publications; Drawings of Miscellaneous Subjects; and Drawings for Emblems and Devices for Les Editions de la Sirène.
Approximately 250 of the items in this collection originated from Jean Cocteau's personal collection (up to about 1935), which had originally been sold to Henri Lefebvre by Maurice Sachs and Robert delle Donne. The Cocteau materials include drawings by Cocteau -- his illustrations for
The Carlton Lake Art Collection also encompasses a large group of art works from the collection of the painter and designer, Valentine (Gross) Hugo, who was married to Jean Hugo, and later AndréBreton's mistress. Valentine Hugo's collection includes many works by Jean Hugo and Jean Cocteau.
The Lake Collection includes a large number of portraits, mainly of authors and poets who were living in France, and other people who were connected to the French artistic scene of the early 20th century. Portrait subjects include Guillaume Apollinaire, composer Georges Auric, Léon Paul Fargue, André Maurois, Lady Ottoline Morrell, Auguste Renoir, philologist and historian Ernest Renan, Gertrude Stein, and Paul Verlaine. There are also works that were created for various published works, including woodcuts by André Derain for Apollinaire's
The Carlton Lake Collection at the Ransom Center encompasses a large body of manuscripts and more than 5,000 volumes. There are also photographs in the Photography Collection's Carlton Lake Literary Files. Three gouache paintings by Jean Lurçat for Patrice de La Tour Du Pin's
The works are housed in 35 medium size boxes, 3 oversize boxes, and 1 flat-file drawer, except for a few works which are in other locations (the French Curator's office, the vault, long term loan). The works in the first 7 boxes are arranged alphabetically by creator. Boxes 8-34 contain works by certain artists who are represented by a number of works in the Lake Collection (Bérard, Buhot, Cocteau, Dufy, J. Hugo, V. Hugo, Morisot, Redon, Rimbaud, Rose, Thiele). Works by unidentified artists are in Box 35. Oversize items were placed either in the 3 oversize boxes 36-38 or the flat-file as appropriate. The following folder list includes creators, titles of works, number of items, format, media, dimensions, and accession numbers.
Related material: Original mat (or mount) labelled:
see also Cocteau folders 16.1-16.2
Inscribed: "Etude pour `le petite fille au taureau / Max Jacob 1920'" -- "Etude pour `Un coup de bourse'" -- "Etude pour mes 'gladiators' / Jean Cocteau 1920."
see also Hugo, Jean (folder 36.8) for same image by Hugo
see also Cocteau folder 11.8
(*NX2.B844 no. 40 1927 cop.1 HRC LAK)
(*PQ 2613 .I74 A546 HRC LAK)
(*PQ 2613 .I74 M536 HRC LAK)
see also Cocteau (folders 11.15, 20.1-2, 20.5) and Hugo, Valentine (folder 27.27)