ART-PRESENTATION: Toulouse Lautrec Illustrates the Belle Époque, Part II

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Simpson Chain, 1896, Brush, crayon, and spatter lithograph, printed in three colors. Key stone printed in blue, color stones in red and yellow on wove paper, 32 5⁄8 × 47 1/4 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips CollectionIn Paris in the 1880s, class boundaries were clear-cut along the Champs-Élysées, where a new aristocracy of bankers and financiers held court. The Third Republic was plagued by corrupt politics. And the poor working class mocked it all, loudly, in Montmartre. Known for its revolutionary politics and cabaret culture, the red-light district on a hill lured some of the era’s most celebrated writers, musicians, and artists to its raucous cafés and performance halls. It was the Belle Époque, and its character was forever captured in the paintings, prints, and posters of French Avant-Garde artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Part I).

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: The Phillips Collection Archive

Toulouse-Lautrec was the first artist to elevate advertising to the status of a fine art. This is an extraordinary shift in the history of art, obliterating the boundaries between high and low art. Acknowledging that some of his greatest masterpieces were posters for nightclubs does not in any way diminish their value. On the contrary, it set the gold standard for great commercial artists from Alphonse Mucha to Andy Warhol. The exhibition “Toulouse-Lautrec Illustrates the Belle Époque” at the Phillips Collection in Washington assembles 100 defining images of late-19th Century Montmartre prints and posters by Toulouse-Lautrec, from nearly the entire period of his lithographic career, from 189 (the year of his first lithograph) to 1899. Included in the exhibition is Toulouse-Lautrec’s first lithograph, the poster “Moulin Rouge La Goulue” (1891), which made him an overnight success. Produced in some 3,000 impressions, the poster’s massive scale, fragmented forms, compressed pictorial space, and range of colors broke new ground. By presenting this significant work alongside a unique trial proof in black and white, the exhibition provides a glimpse into the artist’s highly involved printmaking process. In “The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge” (1892) William Tom Warrener, an English painter and a friend of the artist’s, appears dapper and top-hatted, flirting with two elegant females. Warrener’s ear, reddened in embarrassment, coupled with the women’s provocative poses, suggests the risqué nature of their conversation. This painting became the model for another famous Toulouse-Lautrec poster, titled “Flirt”. Another highlight in the exhibition is “Avril”, a poster commissioned in 1893 by Lautrec’s longtime friend Jane Avril. The poster advertised Avril’s cabaret show at the Jardin de Paris, but it does much more than that. With clear sensitivity Lautrec contrasts Avril’s sullen and resigned expression with the erotic nature of her performance — a pained but decadent life. Other special features on view include never-before-published trial proofs, unique images, and rare prints brought together with richly colored final impressions. Special features of this exhibition are Toulouse-Lautrec’s never-before-published trial proofs, including unique impressions and highly rare prints, also includes additional works his contemporaries, such as Théophile Alexandre Steinlen’s famous poster “Tournée du Chat Noir” (1896) and Louis Anquetin’s never-before-exhibited painting “Inside Bruant’s Mirliton” (1886-87), once considered lost, with only preliminary drawings as evidence of its existence, Anquetin’s large painting invites viewers inside Aristide Bruant’s cabaret the Mirliton, where Toulouse-Lautrec, Bruant, and Émile Bernard watch entertainer La Goulue perform.

Info: Curators: Gilles Genty, Hilliard T. Goldfarb and Renée Maurer, The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st Street NW, Washington DC, Duration: 4/2-30/4/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sat 10:00-17:00, Thu 10:00-20:30, Sun 12:00-19:00, www.phillipscollection.org

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, May Milton, 1895, Crayon, brush, spatter, and transferred screen lithograph, printed in five colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in blue, red, yellow, and black on wove paper, 31 5⁄16 × 24 in, Private collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, May Milton, 1895, Crayon, brush, spatter, and transferred screen lithograph, printed in five colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in blue, red, yellow, and black on wove paper, 31 5⁄16 × 24 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Ambassadeurs, Singer at the Café-Concert, 1894, Crayon, brush and spatter lithograph, printed in six colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in yellow, beige-gray, salmon pink, black, and blue on wove paper, Only state, 12 × 9 3/4 in, Private collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Ambassadeurs, Singer at the Café-Concert, 1894, Crayon, brush and spatter lithograph, printed in six colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in yellow, beige-gray, salmon pink, black, and blue on wove paper, Only state, 12 × 9 3/4 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Box with the Gilded Mask, about 1894, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph with scraper, printed in five colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in red or brown-red, yellow, gray-beige, and black-olive green or black on imitation Japan paper, Only state, 14 5⁄8 × 12 7⁄8 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Box with the Gilded Mask, about 1894, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph with scraper, printed in five colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in red or brown-red, yellow, gray-beige, and black-olive green or black on imitation Japan paper, Only state, 14 5⁄8 × 12 7⁄8 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1893, Brush and spatter lithograph, Key stone printed in olive green on wove paper. Unrecorded trial proof, 47 5⁄8 × 34 5⁄8 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1893, Brush and spatter lithograph, Key stone printed in olive green on wove paper. Unrecorded trial proof, 47 5⁄8 × 34 5⁄8 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1899, Brush lithograph, printed in four colors from three stones, Key stone printed in black, one color stone in red, one in yellow and blue on wove paper, 22 1⁄16 × 14 15⁄16 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1899, Brush lithograph, printed in four colors from three stones, Key stone printed in black, one color stone in red, one in yellow and blue on wove paper, 22 1⁄16 × 14 15⁄16 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Jockey, 1899, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph, printed in six colors, Key stone printed in black, color stones in turquoise-green, red, brown, gray-beige and blue on China paper, State II/II, 20 3/8 × 14 1/4 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Jockey, 1899, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph, printed in six colors, Key stone printed in black, color stones in turquoise-green, red, brown, gray-beige and blue on China paper, State II/II, 20 3/8 × 14 1/4 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, Half-length, 1895, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph, printed in eight colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in yellow, red, dark pink, turquoise-green, blue, gray, and yellow-green on wove paper, State IV/IV, 12 15⁄16 × 9 5⁄8 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, Half-length, 1895, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph, printed in eight colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in yellow, red, dark pink, turquoise-green, blue, gray, and yellow-green on wove paper, State IV/IV, 12 15⁄16 × 9 5⁄8 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection

 

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, May Belfort, 1895, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph, printed in five colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in red, black, gray, and yellow on wove paper, 31 5⁄16 × 24 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, May Belfort, 1895, Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph, printed in five colors, Key stone printed in olive green, color stones in red, black, gray, and yellow on wove paper, 31 5⁄16 × 24 in, Private Collection, Courtesy The Phillips Collection