Can You Find the Toulouse-Lautrec Work In This Picasso?

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Experiment Station

Each week for the duration of the exhibition, we’ll focus on one work of art from Toulouse-Lautrec Illustrates the Belle Époque, on view Feb. 4 through April 30, 2017.

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

Toulouse-Lautrec immortalized English dancer May Milton in this commission, which was meant to advertise a US tour that never occurred. A preparatory drawing reveals the creative impulse. For the poster, Toulouse-Lautrec used five colors, saturating the background in blue and using the white of the paper to define Milton’s body. A swirling pattern highlights the underside of her dress. The poster is shown here with a rare trial proof printed in olive green and black, one of only four impressions.

Picasso must have known of the work, because it is incorporated in his painting The Blue Room. Can you spot it below?

The View From Here

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Experiment Station

Each week for the duration of the exhibition, we’ll focus on one work of art from Toulouse-Lautrec Illustrates the Belle Époque, on view Feb. 4 through April 30, 2017.

Box with the Gilded Mask_Toulouse-Lautrec

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

Lautrec drew an admirable program in colors for which collectors will fight someday. —André Antoine

Toulouse-Lautrec’s lasting affiliation with avant-garde theater began in 1893, when he received a commission to design programs for André Antoine’s company, Théâtre Libre. This is the program design for Le Missionnaire by Marcel Luguet, printed without text, a format intended for collectors. Rather than depict a scene from the play, Toulouse-Lautrec focused on the theater box, a private space for the affluent in which to withdraw into the shadows or let themselves be seen. It shows Jane Avril, engaged in the performance, with artist Charles Condor. Like Edgar Degas’s pastel La Loge, this print is seen from a low vantage point. Two preparatory sketches for the lithograph are known.

A Print in Eight Parts

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Experiment Station

Each week for the duration of the exhibition, we’ll focus on one work of art from Toulouse-Lautrec Illustrates the Belle Époque, on view Feb. 4 through April 30, 2017.

Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender_Toulouse-Lautrec

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

Marcelle Lender found fame as Galswinthe in Hervé’s operetta Chilpéric, revived by the Théâtre de Variétés in 1895. Toulouse-Lautrec attended 20 performances, making sketches from the audience. He immortalized the red-headed actress in the painting Marcelle Lender Dancing the Bolero in Chilpéric and in 13 prints. After developing sketches and trial proofs for this lithograph, Toulouse-Lautrec worked closely with master printer Henri Stern at Ancourt to manage its production in four editions. Printed in eight colors from eight separate stones, it stands as proof of Toulouse-Lautrec’s mastery of lithography. Its fourth state, seen here, was reproduced in the influential German art magazine Pan. Its reference to performance, make-up, costumes, and stylish coiffures shows the influence of Japanese prints like Moatside Prostitute by Utamaro.