Toulouse-Lautrec: Truthful Depictions at LiveAuctionTalk.com
Rosemary McKittrick is a storyteller. Her weekly art, antiques and collecting column is fact-filled and helps readers discover treasures hiding in their homes.
SANTA FE, NM, August 04, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec got his inspiration not from mountain peaks and brimming streams but from bars, brothels and music halls of 19th century Paris. Paris was the center of pleasure for the Western world. Lautrec's art was about capturing the ecstasy of those moments on canvas.
Lautrec frequented the Moulin Rouge so often he had a table permanently reserved for him. Dancers, singers, prostitutes, sideshow characters and the intimate moments of the Parisian club scene became Lautrec's work and play. His prostitutes are portrayed tenderly. His dancers candidly. He painted real people with real lives.
During the day Lautrec retreated to the quiet of his studio and worked.
The result from 1880 to Lautrec's death in 1901 at the age of 36 was some 737 oil paintings, 275 watercolors, about 368 prints and posters and around 5,084 drawings. It doesn't include lost works. Lautrec was hardly a barfly.
One of Lautrec's favorite models was a redheaded friend named Jane Avril. She was a cancan dancer who specialized in "splits" and "military salutes" where she held one leg over her head.
In his 1893 poster of Avril dancing, Lautrec depicts his model truthfully. She's not full of smiles and bubbly like you might expect but sad and seemingly tired as she must have been doing what she did night after night. Maybe dancing more for the crowd than herself.
The above poster sold on May 3 at Poster Auctions International sale in New York City for $86,250.
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