The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters
A preeminent artist of belle époque Paris,
brought the language of the late-19th-century avant-garde to a broad public
through his famous posters, prints, and illustrations for journals and
magazines. A cultural nexus, he connected artists, performers, authors,
intellectuals, and society figures of his day, creating a bridge between the
brothels and society salons of the moment. His work allows entry into many
facets of Parisian life, from politics to visual culture and the rise of
popular entertainment in the form of cabarets and café-concerts. This
exhibition, drawn almost exclusively from The Museum of Modern Art’s stellar
collection of posters, lithographs, printed ephemera, and illustrated books, is
the first MoMA exhibition in 30 years dedicated solely to Lautrec, and features
over 100 examples of the best-known works created during the apex of his
career. (26.07.2014 – 01.03.2015)
Organized thematically, the exhibition explores five subjects that together
create a portrait of Lautrec’s Paris. A section devoted to café-concerts and
dance halls examines the rise of nightlife culture in France through the
depiction of famous venues, including the celebrated Moulin Rouge. Another
focuses on the actresses, singers, dancers, and performers who sparked the
artist’s imagination and served as his muses, including Yvette Guilbert,
acclaimed dancer Loie Fuller, and close friend Jane Avril. Lautrec’s
sympathetic images of women are evident in a group of works that includes his
landmark Ellesportfolio, depicting
prostitutes during nonworking hours, in quiet moments of introspection.
Lautrec’s role in Paris’s artistic community is explored in a section devoted
to his creative circle, highlighting designs for song sheets for the popular
music that flooded Paris’s café-concerts, programs for the
avant-garde theatrical productions that he attended, and his contributions to
magazines and intellectual reviews. A final section looks at the pleasures of
the capital, from horse racing at Longchamp and promenading on the Bois de
Boulogne, to the new fad for ice skating and the enduring appeal of Paris’s
culture of gastronomy. (Text: MoMA New York)