6 October 2018 – 20 January 2019
Royal Scottish Academy
Princes St, Edinburgh,
The vibrant, bohemian atmosphere of Paris at the end of the 19th
century takes centre stage in a spectacular new exhibition at the
National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) , which focuses on
extraordinary posters that heralded a revolution in design and the birth
of modern celebrity culture. Pin-Ups: Toulouse Lautrec and The Art of Celebrity
is the first NGS exhibition to explore the work of one of the most
innovative and popular French artists of the era known as the ‘Belle
Époque’. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was an
outstanding painter, printmaker and caricaturist renowned above all for
his immersion in the theatrical and celebrity culture of Paris.
This
exhibition brings together around 75 posters, prints, paintings and
drawings by Lautrec and contemporaries such as Pierre Bonnard, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen and Jules Chéret,
the ‘father of the modern poster’. These include many of the
artist’s finest graphic artworks made for legendary nightclubs such as
the Moulin Rouge and the Ambassadeurs.
The exhibition also includes the work of British artists who were drawn to the dynamic café culture of Paris, such as Walter Sickert, Arthur Melville, J D Fergusson and William Nicholson.
Lautrec has long been admired for the startlingly modern posters he
designed and for his mastery of the recently developed printmaking
technique of lithography. His career coincided with a revolutionary
moment, just as the poster emerged as an important means of
mass-marketing. Lithography and poster-making were central to his
creative process from 1891, when he made his first experiments in the
technique.
Paris, the 'city of pleasure’, was renowned for its cabarets, dance
halls and cafés; most famous of all were the nightspots of the district
of Montmartre on the edge of Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec worked and
socialised. Pin-ups will focus on the artist’s lithographic
posters, portfolio prints and illustrations which made famous
Montmartre’s venues and their stars – personalities such as Yvette Guilbert,Jane Avril and Aristide Bruant.
Detail from Troupe de Mlle Églantine by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1896) Credit:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Lautrec was born into aristocracy in Albi, near Toulouse in
south-west France. His parents were first cousins, which resulted in
serious health problems, most notably a rare bone disorder which halted
the growth of his legs and caused him to walk with a cane. Displaying
great natural talent, he pursued a career as an artist, receiving
training in Paris from Léon Bonnat and Fernand Cormon,
and finding his favourite subjects – performers and women working in
prostitution – in the vibrant, liberated world of bohemian Montmartre.
He exhibited with the Société des Artistes Indépendants and in
solo shows in Paris, Brussels and London, but secured wider success and
his own celebrity through his lithographic posters.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, May Belfort,
Lautrec witnessed the Parisian demi monde as artist and
observer but also as participant, and could be found every night
drinking and sketching at his favourite haunts. However, his debauched
lifestyle, which included regularly imbibing the notorious (and
subsequently banned) spirit absinthe, eventually took its toll and from
1897 onwards his health deteriorated rapidly. Alcoholism and syphilis
contributed to his early death in 1901 at the age of only thirty-six.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, detail Jane Avril
Pin-Ups will capture the colour and excitement of this
period of economic prosperity and cultural optimism. This was a climate
that gave rise to a new mass-celebrity and consumer culture and a golden
age of the poster. Public enthusiasm for these images was such that
they were removed from walls by collectors, sometimes as soon as they
were put up, a process that transformed ephemeral advertising to a
collectable form of fine art which bridged ‘high’ and popular culture
for the first time.
A highlight of the exhibition is the iconic poster Moulin Rouge - La Goulue (1891),
on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A landmark in
Lautrec’s career, this was the first poster he designed and was his
earliest experiment with colour lithography. Some 3000 copies of the
poster, which advertised the dancer ‘La Goulue’ performing at the Moulin
Rouge, were pasted across the streets of Paris, turning Lautrec from a
virtually unknown artist to a household name literally overnight.
The exhibition will also include a selection of posters by Jules Chéret,
whose pioneering designs – characterised by their bright colours and
inclusion of glamourous stars – were the first to bring real artistry to
the advertising industry.
On display will be one of his most famous
designs, his poster for the American dancer Loïe Fuller, who took Paris by storm when she debuted at the Folies-Bergère in 1892.
Lautrec’s 1892 poster for the nightclub singer and poet Aristide Bruant
has become one of the most memorable and frequently reproduced images
of the era. A savvy self-promoter, Bruant was one of the first stars to
enlist Lautrec to market his act and went on to give the artist more
commissions than any other performer. Lautrec’s promotion of the singer
made him recognisable across the whole city – so many copies of the
poster were pasted on the streets it was said to be impossible to ‘take a
step without finding yourself face to face with it’.
Another iconic poster on display in Pin-Ups is Tournée du Chat Noir avec Rodolphe Sali by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen.
Featuring the bold silhouette of the black cat that gave the celebrated
Montmartre nightclub its name, the poster has become one of the most
recognisable commercial images of all time.
Christopher Baker, Director of European and Scottish Art and Portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland, said:“This
fascinating exhibition provides an opportunity to taste the decadence
and visual richness of culture in late nineteenth-century Paris. The
elegance and inventiveness of Toulouse-Lautrec’s brilliant designs which
helped transform contemporary performers into stars and have an
enduring appeal will be set in the wider context of his contemporaries’
riveting work.”
Aegon chief executive, Adrian Grace said:“Collaboration
between businesses like Aegon and the cultural sector is a great way of
making modern visual art widely accessible. Bringing the
Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition to Edinburgh allows visitors to be engaged
and inspired by some wonderful works of art and we are delighted to be
able to support this.”
Publication
(Image: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1899)
Pin-Ups: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity
Hannah Brocklehurst and Frances Fowle
Pin-Ups: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity is the first exhibition held at the National Galleries of Scotland devoted to the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901).
Paris in the fin-de-siècle was known as the 'city of pleasure’; famed
for its cabarets, dance halls and cafés.
Most famous of all were the
nightspots of the bohemian district of Montmartre, where
Toulouse-Lautrec lived, worked and socialised, including the now
legendary café-cabarets Le Moulin Rouge and Le Chat Noir. Pin-Ups: Toulouse Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity
focuses on Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographic posters, portfolio prints
and illustrations which made stars of Montmartre’s venues and their
entertainers - personalities such as Yvette Guilbert, Jane Avril and
Aristide Bruant. Toulouse-Lautrec’s career coincided with a
revolutionary moment in the history of western printmaking - the
development of the poster as a means of mass-marketing – and lithography
and poster-making were central to his creative process from his first
experiments in the medium in 1891 until his death in 1901.
Around 75 works by Toulouse-Lautrec and his contemporaries
are on show, including prints by Pierre Bonnard, Théophile Alexandre
Steinlen and Jules Chéret
