Public Space in Paris: Toulouse Lautrec’s Posters
At the end of the 19th century, public spaces in Paris grew rapidly as the city became a destination for actors, singers, dancers, artists, and others from across France and much of Europe.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (France, 1864 - 1901), L’Artisan moderne, circa 1890, lithograph on paper, 34 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches. Isabelle and Scott Black Collection, 3.2000.1.
Described by the cultural critic Walter Benjamin in an essay titled “Paris, capital of the nineteenth century,” (1938) Paris was renowned for its public spaces that extended from wide boulevards and decorative arcades to the many theaters and cafés that cropped up throughout the city. These artistic venues featured classical and contemporary productions, and opportunities for social gathering, while also providing the city’s residents with places to see, and be seen by, others. Urban residents felt at home in public spaces, moving seamlessly between crowded streets and bustling cafés. In our own time, venues designed to bring us together and celebrate the visual and performing arts continue to remain central to modern life. Creative energy fosters a sense of community.
A close observer of Parisian artistic life, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec lived in the Montmartre neighborhood and reveled in the energy of dance halls and cafés-concerts. Originally from an aristocratic family in southern France, Toulouse-Lautrec was a gifted artist, and when he came to Paris in 1882, he gravitated toward the bohemian communities that thrived in this environment of collective creativity. He brought his artistic sensibility to these venues, often befriending employees and owners, and produced works of art about, and sometimes for, these establishments. One of his paintings hung prominently at the Moulin Rouge dance hall, where the artist himself could often be found mingling with the performers or members of the crowd. This association led him to begin making promotional images for theatrical productions and publications, often in the form of large posters, which are highly regarded today for their artistic attributes.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (France, 1864 - 1901), Troupe de Mlle Églantine, circa 1890, lithograph on paper, 24 x 31 3/4 inches. Isabelle and Scott Black Collection, 3.2000.3.
In the poster Troupe de Mlle Églantine, a busy scene is animated by specific details, including the diagonal lines of the floorboards, frilly skirts raised to provocative heights, and floating legs shaped by dark stockings and shoes. The poster advertised a dance troupe—including (left to right) Jane Avril, Cléopâtre, Églantine, and La Gazelle—that had recently completed a performance run at the Casino de Paris and was on its way to the Palace Theatre in London.[1] Avril would go on to appear in additional posters made by Toulouse-Lautrec promoting the Moulin Rouge, and images of her flaming red hair and contorted body positions became synonymous with the dance hall. Toulouse-Lautrec was clearly inspired by the dancer’s eccentric personality, and the visual spectacle of her tall lanky figure, twisted legs, and flamboyant hats perhaps held special interest for an artist marked by his own distinctive appearance and unique approach to bohemian living. Toulouse-Lautrec had a medical condition that resulted in stunted growth, and although he suffered from a range of physical and mental health ailments throughout his life, he also thrived as part of a community of outsiders in modern Paris. Interactions with dancers, singers, poets, and prostitutes fed his appetite for social connection, and drove his artistic endeavors. For Toulouse-Lautrec, the two were intertwined.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (France, 1864 - 1901), La. revue blanche, circa 1890, lithograph on paper, 51 x 36 inches. Isabelle and Scott Black Collection, 3.2000.2.
His artistic interests were also shaped by his participation in several group endeavors, including the exhibition Les Vingt in Brussels, the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, and the journal La Revue Blanche. In the poster advertising the monthly publication, Toulouse-Lautrec focused on the charismatic figure of Misia Natanson, who was married to one of the journal’s editors, Thadée Natanson. The Natansons organized gatherings at their apartment in Paris, and in their summer home outside of the city, where artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, and Édouard Vuillard connected with the writer Stéphane Mallarmé, the playwright Romain Coolus, and other literary and artistic figures of the day. In the image, Misia elegantly sways to one side, covered in warm furs while ice skating. The asymmetrical composition echoes the positions of the dancers in Troupe de Mlle Églantine, who are all deftly balancing on one leg.
Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters and paintings defied artistic conventions of balance, order, and symmetry, and instead offered viewers frenzied images of voluminous figures in the action of a fleeting moment. This unusual approach to representation reflected the hustle and bustle of public venues in Paris, but also pointed to the instability of life for working-class Parisians. Many of these artists and performers had left behind friends and family in the French countryside in the hopes of finding employment in the city. Avril, for example, eventually found success as a dancer, but this was after escaping prostitution and spending time in a mental hospital. For Avril, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other displaced artists and performers, public spaces and collaborative communities were vital to their creative development. Displayed prominently throughout the city, Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters unveiled the realities of these public spaces, often hidden from view in plain sight, and brought a striking avant-garde aesthetic onto the streets of Paris. As Thadée Natanson wrote in an issue of La Revue Blanche, these posters “earnestly seek to rediscover in their troubling memories the exquisite emotion of art...”[2]
by Shalini Le Gall, Susan Donnell and Harry W. Konkel Curator of European Art and Director of Academic Engagement
[1] Theodore B. Donson and Marvel M. Griepp, Great Lithographs by Toulouse-Lautrec (New York: Dover, 1982), p. xiii.
[2] La revue blanche, no. 16, February 1893, p. 146. Cited in Riva Castleman and Wolfgang Wittrock, eds., Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Images of the 1890s, (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1985), p. 83.