Toulouse- Lautrec and La Vie Moderne: Paris 1880-1910 by Rizzoli International Publications

Chapter Title

inTroDucTion

Phillip Dennis cate

Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne

DeTaiL, caT. 18

The art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec epitomizes in subject, style, and the use of new technology many of the “modern” tendencies in French art at the turn-of-the-nineteenth century: café-concerts, cabarets, dancehalls, and brothels were aspects of modern life in Paris that attracted the attention of numerous avantgarde artists. Like Toulouse-Lautrec, they rendered these themes with a concern for naturalism and vivacity and sought to separate themselves from the conservative subject matter and formulas of academic art. In order to break with tradition, some artists at the end of the nineteenth century explored expressive means of working with line, color, and form to dynamically depict daily life; others used similar abstract styles to negate naturalism and suggest underlying universal symbols. Thus, Parisian art at the turn-of-the-nineteenth century is multi-faceted with varied approaches to being “modern.” This is the first exhibition to investigate the variety of ways that the broad spectrum of avant-garde artists (beyond those artists associated with the movements of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism) defined their art as “Modern” during this rich period of artistic

experimentation. With the art of Toulouse-Lautrec as a central focus and as a point of departure, this exhibition—drawn from a major private collection in the Netherlands, and with the loan of important works by Toulouse-Lautrec from the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, the Ixelles Museum, Brussels, and the Stichting Het Kattenkabinet, Amsterdam—presents a kaleidoscopic view of the work of a generation of artists who continued the battle for artistic liberation from academic standards fought by the Impressionists and by artists such as Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh. The exhibition puts the innovative art of these better-known artists into context, revealing that they did not work in isolation. The turn-of-the-century artists also found alternative means to bring their art to a broad public— by illustrating journals, books, and theater programs. All sorts of public entertainment—café-concerts, circus, shadow theater plays, and puppet shows, as well as proto-Dada activities—became vital expressions of a modern art. After the defeat of France by Germany in the war of 1870–71, the French Academy and academic art, per se, continued to lose much of its power 15

la chemise blanche. These are located not in a lake or seaside setting but in the artist’s own apartment.92 Perhaps the most reliable information one has to go on is the model’s physique: small of stature, compact and well-rounded, with a round face and possibly blond rather than dark hair. Her hairstyle, with its wide upturned rolls over the ears might, in theory, help to date the work, but it could equally be said to allude to classicism. Similar swept-up hairstyles, first fashionable in the 1890s, can be found in Maillol’s classicizing sculptures from the 1910s and 1920s. From this point of view, the model who is perhaps closest in pose and physique to the drawing here, is Baigneuse, soir, 1909.93

Cat. 23

Louis WeLden HaWkins (1849–1910)

Study of a Nude, c. 1892 Watercolor on paper, 19 3⁄4 x 11 3⁄8 in. (50 x 29 cm) Signature: Lower left

Although carefully signed at lower left, this small painting is again undated; its private and intimate subject makes it unlikely to have been exhibited. The dark-haired model, an Italian by the name of Raffaela Zeppa, was the artist’s lover whom he would marry in 1896. She had modelled for several important paintings from 1887 on. Her swelling stomach suggests she was expecting their first child, Jacqueline, born on 1 June 1892, so the work can be provisionally dated to early 1892. Her “frileuse” (shivering) pose, clasping her arms across her chest, suggests a chilly wintry morning. Other details of the setting are minutely observed: the rumpled white sheets, caT. 22

Realism / Naturalism

the patterned carpet beneath her dangling feet, the long-haired, somewhat aggressive-looking cat who keeps her company on the bed. Her pale, youthful skin tones are just the fleshy side of marble and the overall color range is carefully controlled, the pink ochre of the wall echoing the valance, while the grey of the dado picks up the steely zinc of the tub. The fastidious use of feathery brushstrokes contrasts with the broad handling of the beach scene, and is perhaps an indication of Welden Hawkins’ renewed awareness of currents in English art, important examples of which were shown in Paris at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. At an uncertain date, presumably earlier than this watercolor, he had made a small copy on ivory of a painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Fair Rosamund, 1861, and something of that work’s jewel-like, miniaturist precision can be seen in Study of a Nude. For bibliographical information about the artist, see cat. 2.

caT. 23

Entries: Daily Life

cAt. 12

she holds in her right hand although the gesture would seem futile given the distance involved and the speed of the train. Although Roy’s landscape is schematized, comparison with Maximilien Luce’s Rouen, vu de Canteleu (1893, Private Collection) suggests this may have been Roy’s approximate location too.62 If so, the meandering river is the Seine and the train in the 48

valley is speeding in the direction of the Channel coast. On the verso are a number of drawn figure sketches that seem unrelated to the watercolor. The attractive plain oak frame is in the Arts and Crafts style, designed by the Belgian architect and de signer Gustave Serrurier-Bovy (1858–1910) who specialized in carved wood furniture and Art nouveau interiors. He opened

a shop in Paris in rue de Tocqueville, and exhibited his designs at the Libre Esthétique in Brussels and the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Realism / Naturalism

Cat. 13

CHarLes GuiLLoux (1866–1946)

Autumn Landscape with the Ruins of a Castle, 1892 oil on cardboard, 11 7⁄8 x 9 7⁄8 in. (25 x 30 cm) signature and date: Bottom right

This small landscape in fall colors is clearly a study from nature. Guilloux wanted to clearly differentiate between the different zones in depth by simplifying them and giving each of them a contrasting color.

cAt. 13

Entries: Landscape and Seascape

Chapter Title

entertainment and performance

DeTaiL, caT. 60a

Artist name

Cat. 56C Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

La Revue blanche, 1895 Color lithograph, 49 1⁄2 x 36 in. (126 x 91.2 cm) Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels

Founded in Belgium in 1889, La Revue blanche (its cover was white [blanche]) was relocated in Paris by the brothers Alfred, Alexandre, and Thadée Natanson in 1891. Stongly supportive of the Nabis and early to recognize the talent of ToulouseLautrec, from July, 1893 through December, 1894, the journal published one print each month by artists such as Vuillard, Bonnard, Vallotton, Ibels, Lautrec and others. The journal generated two posters, one by Bonnard in 1894 and the other by Lautrec, as found here. The elegant woman depicted in both posters is Misia Natanson, the wife of Thadée. She is wearing the same feathered hat as found in her silhouette portrait in Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge poster (cat. 42A.) Cat. 57B Henri deToulouse-Lautrec

May Milton, 1895 Color lithograph, 31 x 23 5⁄8 in. (79 x 60 cm) Musée d’Ixelles

This lyrical portrayal of the popular dancer May Milton was created by Lautrec for the performer’s American tour; she had had probably been introduced to the artist by the dancer Jane Avril.

caT. 00

caT. 56c

caT. 57B (DeTaiL)

122

Entertainment and Performance

Legion of Honor ribbon in his lapel— as a puppeteer controlling some of the male and female protagonists of his many books. Easily recognizable on the right is the paunchy figure of Henry Monnier, writer, actor, and artist/illustrator, whose caricatures filled the pages of journals and lithographic albums from the 1830s until his death in 1877. Among Champfleury’s numerous novels and other varied publications was a series of books on the history of caricature, including an 1865 Histoire de la caricature modern (History of the Modern Caricature), which contains references to the popular Monnier. In Durandeau’s watercolor, he ingeniously utilized the silhouette as a means to elaborate upon his caricature of Champfleury. In fact, Durandeau made a direct reference to Champfleury’s collaboration with Manet in the publication and promotion of Champfleury’s book, Les Chats (1869). The shadow silhouette of the cat above and behind Champfleury is an almost exact replica of the black cat found in the lithographic poster created by Manet to advertise Champfleury’s book. In addition, the large hovering silhouette of Champfleury himself transforms the writer into the devil with his emblematic clawed feet. The silhouettes behind Champfleury’s puppets do not exactly reflect the figure for which they serve as the shadow. Each is metamorphosed into a slightly different image. For instance, an academician becomes a Pulcinello, a character often found in Champfleury’s writings as well as in the art of Manet. Durandeau, thus, created a multifaceted picture with a complicated iconography related to the family of characters found in Champfleury’s writings, and one that specifically refers to Manet’s poster. Caricature, satire, humor, sexual innuendo, puppets, and black cats were 136

caT. 68

avant-garde visual/literary tools not to be ignored by Salis and his literary associates as they inaugurated the Chat Noir cabaret.

Entertainment and Performance

Cat. 68

aLexandre THéopHiLe sTeinLen (1859–1923)

Tournée du Chat Noir (Tour of the Chat noir), 1896 Color lithograph, 55 7⁄8 x 39 3⁄8 in. (135.9 x 95.9 cm) Stichting Het Kattenkabinet, Amsterdam

Steinlen’s 1896 Chat Noir poster was created months before the death of Salis and the subsequent closing of the famous cabaret in January 1897. The poster promoted the tour that summer to cities throughout France of the Chat Noir’s shadow theater repertoire and related entertainment. The dynamic jagged contours of the stylized, iconic black cat mimic the zinc cut-outs that created the shadow theater’s silhouetted figures and shapes. The cat’s halo transcribes the cabaret’s motto “Montmartre Montjoye” (Montmartre Mount Joy). Posters, as well as journal and book illustrations played important roles in the selling of Montmartre and its popular entertainers. Cat. 69

LéonCe BurreT (1856–1915)

Le Chat Noir, 1896 Watercolor on paper, 11 3⁄4 x 8 5⁄8 in. (28.5 x 22 cm) Signature: Lower left

caT. 69

Rodolphe Salis inaugurated the first issue of the Chat noir journal on 14 January 1882; the journal was sold by Salis in 1893, and it existed under new direction until 30 March 1895 at which time it was sold again and published in a smaller format from 6 April 1895 until 4 September 1897. This watercolor is a study for the 1897 poster promoting the last version of the Chat noir journal and announcing exhibitions at 35 rue Fontaine, 27 Blvd. Poissonnière.

Entries: The Chat Noir Cabaret and the Incohérents

137

Apart from being a painter, he was also a central figure in idealist intellectual circles. He was not only founder and general secretary of the Société idéaliste, but also a member of the Société astronomique de France. Chabas frequently gave lectures that were sometimes published with programmatic titles such as: “Du rôle social de l’art. Sa puissance et suggestion, considérée comme mode d’évolution de l’individu et des collectivités” (On the social function of art; its suggestive power, conceived as a way to personal and collective evolution). Chabas was a welcome guest in high society. In the 1920s, he enjoyed the interest of Paul Deschanel, the

President of the French Republic and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, the famous patron of the arts. Cat. 157

already used by Romantic painters. This ambiguity between modernist means of expression and traditional formulas is indicative of Chabas’s arthistorical position.

Maurice Chabas

Daydream (Rêverie), c. 1910 Oil on canvas, 15 x 24 in. (38 x 61 cm) Signed: Lower right

Although the intense contrast between orange-red and green provides this painting in itself with an unreal hallucinatory atmosphere, Chabas makes the landscape habitable by adding a figure with whom the viewer can identify. Together with her, we can dream away into the setting sun, a device

Cat. 158

CHarLes GuiLLoux (1866–1949)

Belle-Isle, c. 1900 Signature: Lower right, with annotation “Voyage de Belle Isle”

By the end of the 1890s, Guilloux distanced himself from his early experiments and applied a more nuanced brushstroke.

caT. 158

242

Symbolism / Abstraction

caT. 159

Cat. 159

CHarLes LaCosTe (1870–1969)

The Seine River at the Pont des Arts, 1902 Oil on cardboard, 25 1⁄2 x 36 1⁄4 in. (65 x 92 cm) Signature: Lower left

Both Charles Lacoste and the two cousins George Athénas (1880– 1953) and Aimé Merlo (1877–1958) belonged to the Creole community in Paris. The two cousins had come from the island Réunion in the Indian Ocean to study at the

Fig. 16. The Pont des arts and the Louvre, postcard, c. 1900

Entries

243

Cat. 117 louis legrand

Bar Scene, Portrait of Prince K, 1909 oil on paper, 24 7⁄8 x 18 1⁄4 in. (63.2 x 46.4 cm) signature: upper left

Cat. 116

GeorGes bottini (1874–1907)

Au Bar: La Femme en Blanc (at the bar: the Woman in White), 1904 watercolor on paper, 14 5⁄8 x 10 5⁄8 in. (37 x 27 cm) signature: lower right

Bottini lived and worked all his life in Montmartre. He is often compared with Toulouse-Lautrec because of their dissolute lifestyle and the subject matter of their art.

cAt. 117

cAt. 116

Entries: The Café, the Café-Concert and Performance

181