MMFA 2016: Toulouse‐Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse‐Lautrec
ILLUSTRATES THE BELLE ÉPOQUE

June 18 - October 30, 2016

Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) and The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., the exhibition brings together almost all of the most famous prints and posters by Toulouse‐Lautrec (1864‐1901), the remarkable French nineteenth‐century artist who revolutionized the art of printmaking. The exhibition gives the public the opportunity to admire close to 100 prints and posters from nearly the entire period of Toulouse‐Lautrec’s lithographic career, from 1891 to 1900, both iconic images and rarely exhibited unique proofs carefully chosen for their quality and colour.

The works at the exhibition are on loan from a private collector who assembled them in recent years. Almost all the exhibited prints are in superb condition, their ink and colour still brilliant. Thanks to the collector’s connoisseurship and his devoted care of the works in his expanding collection, which represents nearly all the lithographs executed by Toulouse‐Lautrec, the exhibition enables the public and the art professionals to explore and appreciate the artistic ambitions of Toulouse-Lautrec, and his masterful use of the lithographic medium.

In his lithographs, inspired by the Parisian burgeoning entertainment district, Toulouse‐Lautrec captured the scenes of the Belle Époque and its nightlife of popular cabarets and dance halls. The artist established a studio in the bohemian Montmartre and became a frequent visitor to lively hot spots like the Chat Noir, the Mirliton and the Moulin Rouge. His depiction of the cabarets' environment and entertainement created a portrait of that epoch's Parisian nightlife.

The exhibition includes rare and exceptional trial proofs, including some that have never before been catalogued or published. Among the never before exhibited works are unique impressions, such as the trial proof for Moulin Rouge – La Goulue, as well as very rare prints, such as the trial proofs and final proofs for Reine de Joie [Queen of Joy], May Milton, May Belfort, and the famous poster of Jane Avril.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Hover your mouse over images for description and credits.

The exhibition also features four works by two close associates of Toulouse Lautrec: Louis Anquetin and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen. 

You can read more about Louis Anquetin’s painting L’Intérieur de chez Bruant: Le Mirliton (Inside Bruant’s Mirliton), 1886‐1887, which is being exhibited for the first time ever, and about and his pastel poster Au cirque (At the Circus), 1887, in my previous post here.

You can also read about the Théophile Steinlen’s a large‐format poster of the famous Tournée du Chat Noir, 1896, and his drawing in my post here.

For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions, visit the museum's website.