Artist: Toulouse-Lautrec French (1864-1901)
Title: Moulin Rouge, La Goulue (Preliminary drawing for the Moulin Rouge Poster)
Plate: TL.F
Lithograph from "Les Affiches de Toulouse-Lautrec" series.
Printed by Mourlot Freres, Paris, 1967.
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat via Fedex.
Certificate of Authenticity.
Sheet Size: 10 1/2 in x 14 1/2 in 27 cm x 37 cm
Price: $350.00
"This monumental charcoal drawing of a dance scene with La Goulue and Valentine was the outcome of a prestigious commission from Charles Zidler, the impresario responsible for the shows at the Moulin Rouge, to design a poster (Lautrec's first) for the beginning of the Autumn season of 1891 (Moulin Rouge Poster) By making full use of Cheret's discoveries in printing techniques, while at the same time adapting them to a completely new stylistic concept, making no concessions to public taste. (Cheret's Moulin Rouge) Lautrec liked the idea of being Cheret's rival in an area which had for long been closed to him for lack of commissions, but which, if he was successful, could bring him far more public recognition and widespread influence than even his occasional magazine illustrations had done (see Le Rire).
His astonishing and immediate mastery in the field of printed graphics can be attributed to the fact that Lautrec only turned to this medium (posters) at a stage in his career when his artistic skills were fully mature, and his assured draftsmanship allowed him to experiment on the lithographic stone as he wished. The spontaneous effect of the Moulin Rouge Poster which caused such amazement among critics and passers-by when it was posted on hoardings and walls, as well as indoors, was the result of painstaking preparatory work and detail studies. These culminated in the present charcoal sketch which established the final form and dimen-sions of the poster in all details" (Adriani 47)
Read the full story: A study in three parts; "The Dancer", "The Venue", and "The Poster"
Final Poster (printed in 1891) sold for $ 241,500 US (The highest price ever paid for a vintage advertising poster) Poster Auctions International, N.Y. Nov. 1999.
During the 1960s the renowned French printer, Mourlot Freres, printed this superb series "Les Affiches de Toulouse-Lautrec" for collectors. They are reduced lithographic versions of Lautrec's most famous works. They are truly the most beautiful printing we have been able to find in this size format.
As vintage printings of Lautrec's work, in all formats, reach high prices, this mid-century printing offers a superb alternative at a reasonable price that will only appreciate in value.