Inscription: Signed and dated (upper right): 1916 / G Rouault; (verso, left center): G Rouault / 1916
Walter Pach, New York (1916–44; gift of the artist; sold on December 26, 1944, as "Colossal Head" and "Palace of Ubu Roi," for $3,000, to Pierre Matisse); [Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1944–47; stock no. 1515; sold on May 7, 1947, as "Landscape" and "Portrait," to Reader's Digest]; Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, N. Y. (from 1947); [Carstairs Gallery, New York, until 1954; stock no. CG 443; sold on August 31, 1954, as "Palais de Roi Ubu" and "Roi Ubu," to Marx]; Samuel and Florene Marx, Chicago (1954–his d. 1964); Florene May Marx, later Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn, New York (1964–d. 1995; her bequest to MMA)
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Georges Rouault: Early Paintings, Watercolors, Tempera Paintings and Gouaches, 1904–1917," November 9–December 4, 1937, no. 12 (as "Le Palais du Père Ubu," lent by Walter Pach).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Georges Rouault: Paintings and Prints," April 4–June 3, 1945, no. 43 (as "Head," lent by Walter Pach, New York) [recto only displayed].
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Georges Rouault Paintings," March 11–April 5, 1947, nos. 3 and 4 (as "Tête d'homme" and "Le Palais d'Ubu Roi").
New York. Carstairs Gallery. "Paintings, Gouaches and Etchings by Georges Rouault," March 9–27, 1954, no catalogue.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," November 2, 1965–January 2, 1966, unnumbered cat. (pp. 52–53; as "King Ubu" [recto], "Palace of King Ubu" [verso]).
Art Institute of Chicago. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," February 11–March 27, 1966, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," April 26–June 13, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Museo de Arte Moderno. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," July 2–August 7, 1966, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," September 2–October 2, 1966, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, brochure nos. 20, 21 (as "German Military Officer," 1916; "The Palace of King Ubu," 1919).
James Thrall Soby. Georges Rouault: Paintings and Prints. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1945, pp. 19–20, 24, 115, nos. 43 (recto), 44 (verso), ill. p. 66 (recto and verso), notes that the recto is "almost certainly a portrait of a German officer"; calls the verso "The Palace of Ubu Roi" and discusses it in relation to Rouault's studies for etchings that illustrated Ambroise Vollard's "Les Réincarnations du Père Ubu".
James Thrall Soby. Georges Rouault: Paintings and Prints. New York, 1947, pp. 19–20, 24, 127, nos. 43 (recto), 44 (verso), ill. p. 72 (recto and verso), calls it "Head" (recto) and "The Palace of Ubu Roi" (verso); locates it in the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York; reprints essay from Ref. Soby 1945.
Howard Devree. "Rouault's Works at Carstairs." New York Times (March 10, 1954), p. 22.
"Heads by Two Modern Masters in New Shows." New York Times (March 15, 1954), ill. p. X10 (recto), calls it "Roi Ubu".
Margaret Breuning. "57th Street: Rouault." Art Digest 28 (March 1, 1954), pp. 18–19, ill. (recto), calls it "Ubu Roi".
Lucy R. Lippard inThe School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1965, pp. 52–53, ill., comments that these works are among the first studies for prints that were not executed until 1928, and therefore do not necessarily resemble the published images in Vollard's book (1932).
Bernard Dorival and Isabelle Rouault. Rouault, l'œuvre peint. Monte-Carlo, 1988, vol. 1, p. 203, no. 679, ill. (recto), p. 310, no. 1049, ill. (verso), call it "Von X" (recto) and "Le Palais d'Ubu Roi II" (verso).
William S. Lieberman. "Donnés au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 539 (May 1997), p. 68, ill. (color, recto and verso), notes that the recto portrays an imagined German officer, and reflects Rouault's sentiments during the First World War; considers only the verso to be related to the Ubu Roi etchings.
Alessandra Carnielli and Margaret Loudon inPierre Matisse and His Artists. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, 2002, ill. p. 209 (recto; installation photo, Exh. New York 1947).
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