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Artist or Maker: Jean Béraud (French, 1849-1936)

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Description: Les joueurs de billiard
signed 'Jean Béraud.' (lower right)
oil on board
13 3/4 x 17 1/4 in. (35 x 44 cm.)

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Exhibited: Paris, Grand Palais, Exposition organisée au profit des oeuvres de guerre de la société des artistes français et de la sociéte nationale des beaux-arts; May-June 1919, no. 1676.

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Published: L. Vauxcelles, 'Les Salons des artistes français et de la Nationale,' Excelsior, 2 May 1919, p. 5.
Thiébault-Sisson, 'Les Salons de 1919. Une impression d'ensemble', Le Temps, 2-3 May 1919, p. 3.
P. Offenstadt, Jean Béraud 1849-1935, The Belle Epoque: A Dream of Times Gone By, Catalogue Raisonné, Cologne, 1999, p. 231, no. 301 (illustrated).

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Notes: Famous for his ability to capture the excitement and bustle of Parisian life in the final decades of the 19th Century, Jean Beraud did not focus solely upon the denizens of the upper reaches of French society. As an artist, Beraud was most concerned with capturing the realities of life in the French capital, and he would therefore have frequented the billiard hall so accurately depicted in La partie de billiard.

Billiards was first played only in private clubs, later became a café game and finally a full-fledged sport.