Henri Toulouse-Lautrec 1894
 

   Print-making in the later half of the 19th century flourished in two separate arenas: the private and the public. Technical advances in lithography made prints available in wide format sizes and bright colors, and subsequently more attractive to the art collectors and dealers that made up the realm of "high" art.  While prints were being hung and admired in the homes of the bourgeoisie of Paris, they were also being admired by the average pedestrian and journal reader.  Prints advertising plays, dance, and nightlife performances, adorned the sidewalks and the insides of cafes.  A highly selective form of print journals were designed to showcase the new talents of artists who specialized in this modern medium.  Literary works by writers and journalists were for the first time illustrated by color prints, a feat that heralded in a new era for publishing.
    Poster art was the quintessential democratic art form of the "belle-epoque."  It appealed to the wealthy art collectors as well as the average cabaret patron.  Many avant-garde artists thrived on the income and recognition that poster commissions would bring.  henri Toulouse-Lautrec was among the most celebrated poster artists and print makers of fin-de-siecle Paris.  In his short, but astonishingly prolific artistic career,  he produced colorful art nouveau influenced posters that depicted the decadence, glamour, and exoticism of the bohemian life.   Toulouse-Lautrec himself was no stranger to the world that he described.  Exceedingly small (4 ft. 11 inches) due to a genetic bone condition, he lived a reclusive life in the Monteparte district of Paris apart from his aristocratic family.   Toulouse-Lautrec's rejection of his family and their values was what enabled him to be drawn to the seedy yet colorful world of the Cabarets.  Can-can dancers like Jane Avril, and an un-told number of prostitutes influenced the artist and provided him with a family-like community.

Divan Japonais. 1893

    Toulouse-Lautrec was tremendously influenced by Japanese color woodcuts as is apparent in his advertisement for a Montemarte cabaret.  Orientalism was in vogue in the 1890's and the "exotic" was being appropriated in artistic styles as well as in cabarets such as the Divan Japonais.   The two figures being depicted are the dancer Jane Avril and the critic Edouard Dujardin.  They are watching a performance by the singer Yvette Guilbert, recognizable by her black gloves.  Lautrec is able to convey the intellect of Avril in her composed and elegant portrayal.  Her companion Dujardin appears to be distracted from the performance by Avril's voluptuous presence.   Lautrec was interested in the psyche of his subjects, and is able to represent their private thoughts through their expressions and positions.
     Divan Japonais represents a summary of the artist's interests and influences.  The presence of Dujardin is a reference to the critic's essays on Orientalism and abstraction in Japanese art.  Lautrec's poster art was a product of the intellectualism of modern art that was made possible by the intermingling of the classes in the cafes and cabarets.

   Moulin Rogue-La Goulue 1891

     The Moulin Rogue is Lautrec's first poster designed to advertise the  cabaret/dance hall Moulin Rogue.  The poster is a radical departure from previous works because it depicts a specific "star" to sell the cabaret.  The star in this case is the infamous "chachut" (can can) dancer known as La Goulue.  The dancer born Louise Weber was given the stage name La Goulue (the glutton) by her habit of keeping the bar dry by her incessant drinking.  Like Jane Avril, La Goulue was friends with Toulouse-Lautrec.  She could be at times cruel on the subject of her friend's odd appearance.
    "I asked him to come along because I wanted to frighten off anyone who might try to accost me."  (La Goulue on spending the day in Lautrec's company in the Bois de Boulogne) 1

    Between 1891 and 1900, Toulouse-Lautrec produced only 32 posters.  His relatively small creative output can be attributed to the time and preparation it took to create a large format poster.  The preliminary sketch was key to Lautrec's process.   The artist would sit in a corner in cafes or dance halls with a sketchbook trying to capture the colorful array of characters that he observed.  The final product often retained the rough feel and movement of a sketch.  Toulouse-lautrec was the first poster artist to apply lettering in a calculated manner.  The above poster displays the integral part that lettering had in the image.   The bright reds and yellows and rich black tones became staples for advertising posters.

La Vache Enragee1896

    As well as being acclaimed for his poster art, Toulouse-Lautrec was also a distinguished contributer to artist journals.  The above image is a cover illustration for the monthly journal La Vache Enragee(the angry cow).  The journal, designed to showcase young artists and satirize the Establishment, was the brainchild of artist Adolph Willette.  Its interesting name refers to the slang expression "enraged cow" in reference to the animalistic struggle of the bohemian artist.  In his illustration Lautrec depicts a white-haired, academic old man being chased down the street by a violent bull.  The style of the drawing is more in the vein of Willette's cartoon-like work than Lautrec's.
    Toulouse-Lautrec's association with the Montemarte artists who created La Vache Enrageelinks him to a rebel movement in art.  In Lautrec's own mind however he was always struggling independantly of any art movement or avant-garde society.   By taking his work to the streets he suceeded where the avant-garde movements of realism and impressionism had failed.  Courbet depicted the working clases in realistic settings, but was never able to escape the confines of "high art" in his oil paintings.  Poster art urbanized and democratized art with a modern self-consciousnes that was not apparant a few decades before.   Toulouse-Lautrec himself would have seemed an unlikely candidate to challenge the status quo in art, but then again these were unlikely times.
 
 
 

    On the subject of his art Lautrec is exceedingly humble and self-deprecating:

    "I am certainly not regenerating French art, but am struggling
 hard to accomplish something on an unlucky piece of paper which
 has done me no harm at all, and on which, believe me, I am doing
 nothing that is good....I hope things will improve eventually; as it
 is, I am pretty wretched." 2
 
 
 

1 and 2 http://www.sandiegomuseum.org/lautrec/quotes.html