Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Posthumous Color Lithograph "Divan Japonais"

Item Details

A vintage color lithograph by renowned French Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker and illustrator Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901), titled Divan Japonais, posthumously printed in 1968 by Edward Ancourt, Paris, after the original printing in 1893. This image was commissioned by Édouard Fournier, owner of the Divan Japonais cabaret, to promote its opening, and depicts a darkly glamorous scene inside of the nightclub. In the foreground, the dark shape of famed can-can dancer Jane Avril and her fiery red hair dominate the scene; to her right is art critic and writer Édouard Dujardin. Beyond these two figures are the silhouettes of stringed instruments and the conductor, with the cropped figure of singer Yvette Guilbert, a well-known singer of the time, standing on stage with her signature long, black gloves clasped in front of her. Artist signature is printed in plate to the lower right. Publishing information is printed in fine text to lower right margin. The print is mounted behind gold tone mat, under glass in a beveled wood frame with gilt finish. Toulouse-Lautrec was born in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France and moved to Paris in 1882 where he shaped his artistic career by working in the studios of artists he greatly admired. His immersion in the flamboyant and theatrical subculture nightlife of cabaret dancers, bohemians, and prostitutes of turn-of-the-century Paris, allowed him to produce an enticing and provocative body of work accurately representing the modern, sometimes dark, life of those times, earning him rights to becoming known as “the soul of Montmartre.”

Condition

- light discoloration across print.

Dimensions

Item #

16CIN491-049