Poster for La Revue Blanche

French artist and printmaker. Born in the south of France as the heir to a distinguished aristocratic family, as a young boy, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec suffered a fracture in an accident, whereby the lower half of his body was stunted. Consequently, he devoted himself to painting and moved to Paris. He is known for his acute and candid depictions of the attitude of prostitutes and performers living at the cabarets, caf_s, and brothels in Montmartre. He also played a leading role in the golden age of poster art at the end of the nineteenth century.

This is a multicolored lithograph poster produced by Lautrec, who made a meteoric debut with the poster Moulin Rouge: La Goulue and reigned over the fin-de-si_cle world of graphic art, for La Revue Blanche, an avant-garde art magazine published in Paris. This magazine was edited by the three Polish brothers Natanson. The chief editor Thad_e Natanson’s wife, Misia, was a Muse-like existence in fin-de-si_cle art and many artists such as Proust, Val_ry, and Debussy frequented her salon. Lautrec was the second to be employed to design a poster for this magazine after Bonnard in 1894. The image of Misia elegantly dressed and enjoying skating overlaps with that of the magazine. Two oil studies for this poster remain.