Toulouse-Lautrec & the Belle Epoque at the Polk Museum of Art

"Divan Japonais" (1893)
Color lithograph discovered in 2007
after 105 years in storage!

I was thrilled when I learned the Polk Museum of Art was hosting a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit. Sure, it's a bit of a trek to Lakeland. It was well worth it, though, to see more than 230 of Lautrec's works in one place. Quite amazingly, they are all from one collection. 

If you've taken even an introductory art history class, you've come across Lautrec and his work. But here's a little refresher to give some context. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born into aristocracy, and he would have assumed the titled Comte (Count) de Toulouse-Lautrec had he outlived his father. Lautrec suffered from a congenital health issue attributed to the fact that his parents were first cousins. When Lautrec was 13, he fractured one leg; he broke the other the following year. His legs quit growing when the breaks didn't properly heal. As a result, a disproportionate amount of his 5'0 height was attributable to his adult-sized torso. 

Exhibit Highlight: 30 pound lithography
stone shown with music partition
"For You, 'Old Stories'" (1893) 

Given his physique, Lautrec wasn't one for sports or other physical activities. He became an observer and took up art. From a young age, he showed great talent. By the time he was 18, he had moved to Paris where he undertook formal art training for several years.  While Lautrec showed promise as a painter, he embraced the art of graphic design when it was time to strike out on his own. In fact, in a bit of a reversal, he would sometimes paint an image as a preparatory step in creating his lithographs. 

Lautrec's interest in lithography came at a time when Japanese art was making a big impact on the international art world. Lithographs share characteristics of woodblock paintings with their large swatches of color, fluid lines and flat aspect. Interestingly, the gentleman pictured above in "Divan Japonais" was a critic who had written about abstraction in Japanese art. 

"May Belfort" 
Color lithograph (1895)

Lautrec's lithographs collapsed the lines between "high" art (paintings/sculptures) and "low" art (commercial art/art with text/decorative art). His lithographs were often created specifically to be used for marketing of shows and their stars at the Moulin Rouge and other cafe-concert venues. It's worth noting that the exhibit includes some Lautrec lithographs that do not include the promotional text. There was a limited run of these lithos, making them much more collectible. As a viewer, I prefer the ones with the ones with the text. 

The performers in Lautrec's world were true characters. Each entertainer had her own schtick. Jane Avril -- the redhead featured in "Divan Japonais" -- was a well-known can-can dancer who looped her arms under her legs as she revealed her petticoats. As a bit of an aside, Avril and Madame Eglantine's Troupe took their show on the road to the British Isles. The audience was disappointed with the act, having expected it to be much more scandalous than it was. These women were French after all!

"Yvette Guilbert" (1893)
Watercolor

May Belfort's persona was to dress up as an English baby with a bonnet tied with ribbons. She would carry her cat onstage and sing, "I've got a little cat, I've very fond of that," in a "seductive manner full of innuendo" (per the wall card).  Am I the only one who finds this -- and the fact that French audiences loved it -- a bit disturbing?  And here's an odd tidbit about Ms. Belfort I learned from Wiki. The performer had an affair with Boer General Viljoen and had visions of a long marriage with him. When she learned he already had a wife, she followed him to Chicago and horsewhipped him in the street. What???!!! Not surprisingly, when the General divorced his wife, May did not become the new Mrs. Viljoen. 

Yvette Guilbert was another frequent subject of Lautrec's work. Guilbert was known for her black elbow-length gloves, and people familiar with her act would have recognized her arms in "Divan Japonais."  Her unfashionably svelte figure (???) accentuated her sharp nose. Lautrec's watercolor shown here highlights these features. Guilbert apparently wasn't enamored with the way Lautrec portrayed her, but you know what they say -- any publicity is good publicity. This particular image is from a series Lautrec painted in preparation for a book on the entertainer on display in the exhibit. The next time you're in Paris, stop by the Louvre to see a full set of these watercolors. 

While Lautrec's lithographs of the cafe-concert scene are fabulous, what makes the exhibit truly exciting is the opportunity to see other aspects of his work. The lithograph stone shown above is a highlight. Not only is it a treat to see an etched and inked stone, it is the practice to "cancel" a lithograph stone once a run has been completed by marking an "x" through it or otherwise making the image unusable. To see a usable stone next to a print made from it is rare indeed. The exhibit also includes a number of Lautrec's sketches, some of which are displayed in glass so you can see both sides of the paper. 

I'll leave you with an intimate lithograph that was one of my favorites in the show. It's no surprise to learn that Lautrec loved a party, but did you know he could plan an event with the best of them? His friend Alfred Natanson asked Lautrec to organize the festivities for a spring gathering. Lautrec jumped into the task, creating lithographed invitations and menus, decorating the venue and even supervising the precise mixing of the drinks. Needless to say, the absinthe flowed. 

Lautrec died at the age of 36 from madness induced by alcoholism and syphilis. (He spent a good amount of time in brothels, both as a customer and as a friend to the women.) At age 24, he had predicted an early death, saying "I expect to burn myself out by the time I am 40." 

Toulouse-Lautrec & the Belle Epoque runs through May 23 at the Polk Museum of Art. For more information and reservations, click here.