The National Gallery’s “Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmarte” exhibit introduces the public to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the Andy Warhol of the 18th arrondissement. While Warhol’s work characterized the second half of the 1900’s, Lautrec’s posters and paintings rode the wave of change breaking in Paris at the turn of the 20th century.
The parallels between the two artists are actually quite striking. Warhol used the printing technique of lithography to mass-produce his bold, colorful renditions of 20th century pop culture. Lautrec was equally tuned in to the creative wanderings of his contemporaries. Warhol’s celebrity status among the rock gods and starlets of the time was matched by Lautrec’s integration into the world of showgirls he so lovingly painted. Both participated in their respective eras as much as they documented them. Warhol, as a former publicist, understood the elements of advertising, which was Lautrec’s main medium. Both were fascinated with the exploitation and commercialism of celebrity.
Still, the two existed on very different planes. Lautrec lived in Paris in the latter half of the 19th century. The bohemian Montmarte neighborhood that Lautrec frequented made for one giant, raucous, absinthe-soaked party. The cafes, cabarets and low rents attracted artists and musicians who, amidst the drugs and booze, collaborated to create some of the most distinctive art creations of the late 19th century. Spaced out on the gallery walls, Lautrec’s works are anything but silent canvases in frames. The sounds of carnival music, distant laughter and applause seem to float through the rooms, resonating among the massive crowds of families and elderly couples out on a spring day for a quick glance into another world.
Lautrec was a Moulin Rouge regular and befriended many of the dancers. He was an odd character, and would invite guests over to sit for a portrait, then after a few brushstrokes suggest taking a stroll outside. He would become fascinated with a particular woman and paint her for months. One of these women was Jane Avril, a famous Moulin Rouge entertainer. She claimed that his posters had launched her success. The 1893 print “Jane Avril” uses a simple color palette of red, yellow, black and brown to highlight the blonde Avril in the middle of a can-can kick. Her face provokes the audience, as does the view of her stocking-clad legs and underskirts.
Looking at the action-freeze painting “Jane Avril Leaving the Moulin Rouge” (1892), depicting Avril walking down the street in a long coat, head lowered, one cannot help thinking of paparazzi shots of Britney Spears exiting a dry cleaner. Though the definition of celebrity has changed since, and a paparazzi photo is now seen as prying, for Jane Avril, such a painting portrayed depth in the public eye. She was seen as introverted and private, the complete opposite of her explosive on-stage persona.
In the exhibit, Lautrec’s depictions of the dance halls and brothels are put in perspective by a few works from his contemporaries, including Van Gogh, Degas, Manet and Picasso, all present in the art scene of the time. While Lautrec never matched the creative genius of these painters, his lucid ability to bring his subjects fame set him apart.
After years of observing on the sidelines, he understood the mind of the public and used this knowledge to promote and make legendary the seedy life at the Moulin Rouge. The exhibit transports an audience inundated with star-struck envy to a time of burgeoning art when celebrity was just being defined and the absinthe flowed free.
“Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre” will be on display at the National Gallery of Art, East building until June 12, 2005.
