French artist Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was crippled, physically frail and an alcoholic, and he died at the young age of 36. In his art, however, he focused on the pleasures and gaiety of Paris life, becoming known for his paintings, posters and lithographs depicting the exuberant, licentious and transitory life of Montmartre cabaret singers, actresses, clowns and literary figures.
Many of the artist's best-known posters and color lithographs are on view in a new exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery. "The Pleasures of Paris: Prints by Toulouse-Lautrec" features approximately 60 works, including three preparatory drawings by the artist. Chronologically, these range from an 1892 poster announcing Victor Joze's book "Reine de Joie" to the artist's 1899 work "The Jockey." A highlight is Toulouse-Lautrec's "Elles" ("Them" or "Those Women," 1896), a suite of 10 images of women of the demi-monde in intimate domestic situations -- waking up, washing, fastening a corset or combing hair -- that is considered by many to be the artist's masterpiece.
Also on view are Toulouse-Lautrec's portrayals of the fashionable or popular personalities of his day in France and beyond, including French composer, poet and café owner Aristide Bruant; dancers La Goulue, Loie Fuller and Jane Avril; fashion designer Renée Vert; bassoonist and composer Désiré Dihau; Irish singer May Belfort and Irish writer Oscar Wilde; and café-concert songstress Yvette Guilbert.
"As Toulouse-Lautrec's lithographs celebrated the pleasures of fin-de-siècle Paris, so this exhibition is conceived as a source of pleasure for its viewers," says its organizer, Richard S. Field, curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the art gallery.
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in the provincial town of Albi, the only surviving son and heir of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse-Lautrec. His physical frailty and accidents during adolescence, when both his legs were broken, left him abnormally stunted in growth and crippled. He began his serious artistic studies at the Montmartre atelier of Léon Bonnat in 1882, then moved to the studio of Fernand Cormon, whose other pupils included Emile Bernard and, briefly, Vincent van Gogh.
Toulouse-Lautrec was strongly influenced by the technique and subject matter of Edgar Degas and shared his contemporaries' passion for Japanese prints, but he belonged to none of the many artistic movements of fin-de-siècle Paris and was never involved in the turbulent politics of his time. He began exhibiting his paintings at the Salon des Indépendants in 1889, but it was with his posters, beginning in 1891, that his reputation was widely established. Performers, theater and club owners, book and music publishers, and manufacturers commissioned posters to advertise themselves or their wares.
"Lautrec's swiftly curving and swelling lines, flat decorative planes of color, and simple spatter for ambiance and atmosphere are themselves equivalents of his subject's public persona," writes Field. "Their capacity for immediate communication has not been surpassed."
In 1892, Toulouse-Lautrec made his first lithographic color prints for collectors and the following year created the cover for L'Estampe originale, the first portfolio of prints by leading painters of the day. This publication is considered to have marked the beginning of modern print collecting.
Toulouse-Lautrec traveled frequently to England and other European countries and had an active, if somewhat dissolute, social life, according to Field. However, he worked obsessively, completing 737 canvasses, 275 watercolors, 368 prints and posters, and in excess of 5,000 drawings by the time of his death.
In a brochure accompanying the exhibition, Field describes the process and subtleties of lithography, discusses the ways Toulouse-Lautrec's posters transformed the language of mass media, and considers the significance of the series "Elles."
The works in the exhibition, which will remain on view through Dec. 13, have been drawn primarily from the Yale Art Gallery's holdings, which includes a gift of major works from the collection of the late Dr. Bettina Warburg Grimson. Some of the work has been loaned from private collectors, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Davison Art Center at Wesleyan University and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
A related exhibition, "Fin-de-Siècle Symbolist Prints from Manet to Munch," also organized by Field, will open on Sept. 22. In addition, there is a variety of special talks and programs taking place in conjunction with the exhibition. On Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 12:20 p.m., Field will give an art à la carte talk on "Elles." On Friday, Sept. 11, the art gallery will hold a small Parisian street fair (see related story, page ?). Other events being planned will appear in future issues of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar.
The Yale University Art Gallery, located at 1111 Chapel St., is open
to the public free of charge Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and on
Sundays, 1-6 p.m. A museum entrance for persons using wheelchairs is
located at 201 York St. For further information about access, call
432-0606. For general information, call 432-0600.
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