About the exhibition
Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, Tarn,
France
The posters and lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum represent an invaluable group of works that were housed in the artist's atelier during his lifetime and have remained intact as a collection. Following Toulouse-Lautrec's death, the works were entrusted to the art dealer Maurice Joyant, a close friend of the artist who continued to support his work since he was a youth. During Toulouse-Lautrec's life, Joyant organized exhibitions of the artist's work, and later as the executor of his estate, he worked to establish a museum devoted to Toulouse-Lautrec in the artist's hometown of Albi, an ancient city in southwest France.
In this exhibition, the first to introduce the museum's Toulouse-Lautrec collection, we present a selection of some 180 works from the artist's countless exemplary posters depicting turn-of-the-century Montmartre and Paris, and lithographs displaying his various artistic innovations. Along with trial proofs that illustrate Toulouse-Lautrec's groundbreaking printmaking techniques, and rare lithographs, the exhibition is characterized by numerous invaluable works that provide a glimpse into the artist's private life and his circle of friends. These include works that were signed and dedicated to Toulouse-Lautrec's intimates, and invitations and menu cards he made for his banquets (events the artist held for his associates at which he also provided the food). The comprehensive selection of lithographs testifies to Toulouse-Lautrec's originality and conveys a sense of graphic design that is perfectly suited to contemporary tastes.
In addition, to commemorate the sister-museum relationship between the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, we are also exhibiting some oil paintings and drawings from the latter facility's collection which depict Toulouse-Lautrec's life with his family in the Albi region and his friendship with Joyant. These works create an intriguing contrast between Toulouse-Lautrec's hometown as his heart and soul, and the entertainment district of Montmartre as the center of his artistic activities.
Differing widely from the romantic image of the "haunted" painter who immersed himself in the decadent nightlife of fin de siècle Paris, we hope that you will enjoy discovering this new world of work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec which is filled with a variety of familiar elements.
| Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi-Paris : Maurice Joyant, l'héritage de l'artiste Exhibition. | |
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| Venue | Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo |
| Date | Thu., Oct 13 – Sun., Dec 25, 2011 |
| Address | 2-6-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0005 |
| Hours | Wed.-Fri.: 10:00-20:00; Tue., Sat., Sun., and hol.: 10:00-18:00 ※Last entry 30 minutes prior to closing time. |
| Closed | Mondays |
| Organized by Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, and Asahi Shimbun With the patronage of the Embassy of France in Japan With special support from the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, France. In cooperation with AIR FRANCE, J-WAVE | |
| Admission fees | Adults 1300YEN, University and high school students 800YEN, Elementary and junior high school students 400YEN |
Scenes of the Albi Region and the Artist's Family
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born the town in Albi, in southwest France, to a distinguished aristocratic family. Influenced by his father and uncle, Toulouse-Lautrec exhibited a precocious talent for art in the childhood sketches he made of the people and animals in his midst. When he was 8, Toulouse-Lautrec's family moved to Paris and he began attending the Lycée Fontanes (now, Lycée Condorcet), but after suffering an injury, entering a period of recuperation, and eventually failing his university entrance exam, Toulouse-Lautrec set out to become a full-fledged artist under the tutelage of the animal painter René Princeteau. In April 1882, he began studying with Léon Bonnat and then switched to Fernand Cormon's studio, which was located in the heart of Montmartre. Urged to master academic techniques, Toulouse-Lautrec remained in the school until 1887. During this training period, he would sometimes return to Albi, where the landscape and animals of the region, and the emotional support of his mother and family helped nourish his creative activities.
Debut as a Poster Artist
After moving to Paris, Toulouse-Lautrec was gradually attracted to the nightlife of Montmartre, and on the strength of his first poster Moulin Rouge, La Goulue (1891) became an overnight success. He went on to produce skilled depictions of the unique characters of Montmartre. These included pictures of beloved figures such as Aristide Bruant, an extremely popular chanson singer who performed at cafe concerts, and Jane Avril, a dancer referred to as the "incarnation of dance." These people in turn embraced the bold colors and innovative structure of the painter's unique style in a mutual show of affection.
Lithographic Innovations
Including prints and posters, Toulouse-Lautrec created some 360 works in all. The majority of these were lithographs, which he vigorously produced in less than a decade between 1891 and 1900 while also making a large number of oil paintings and drawings. In addition to lithographs that vividly depicted the unique characters of the people he had discovered and grown fond of at cafe concerts and theatre productions, such as the American dancer Loie Fuller and the actress Marcelle Lender, Toulouse-Lautrec created a diverse body of work for a variety of purposes including theatre programs and sheet music covers. Reflecting the artist's continual experiments with different techniques and color combinations, the lithographs, depicting the people and culture of fin de siècle Paris, overflow with unparalleled variety and originality.
Fin de siècle Culture and Creative Activities
Toulouse-Lautrec, who made a name for himself in Montmartre, developed a circle of friends that included many cultural figures, including Thadée and Misia Natanson (who had begun to publish a journal of the arts called La Revue blanche in 1889), and the writers and musicians who frequented the salons of the day. Along with advertisements for the American literary magazine The Chap-Book and popular novels, Toulouse-Lautrec expanded the range of his work to include commercial designs such as La Chaîne Simpson and Confetti, posters for a bicycle-chain manufacturer and a paper company, respectively.
Animals
Toulouse-Lautrec repeatedly portrayed animals in his work and they remained one of his favorite subjects throughout his life. Viewing them with special warmth, the artist saw animals as close friends. A collection of prints (limited to an edition of 100) which were used as illustrations for Jules Renard's book Histoires Naturelles in particular displays Toulouse-Lautrec's keen eye for observation and exceptional powers of depiction.
Views on Women
Living side-by-side with the prostitutes of Paris, Toulouse-Lautrec viewed these women on the margins of society with a sympathetic eye, as seen in countless oil paintings and drawings. In 1896, the artist produced Elles, a collection of prints limited to an edition of 100 that consisted of eleven works focusing on everyday events in the women's lives. While displaying the influence of Japanese ukiyoe, the series, which exhibits a masterful use of various styles and techniques, might be seen as the crowning achievement in Toulouse-Lautrec's lithographic works.
Maurice Joyant and Toulouse-Lautrec
After meeting the artist as a young man at the lycée, Maurice Joyant remained Toulouse-Lautrec's closest friend and the greatest advocate of his art. Joyant, who succeeded van Gogh's brother Theo as the manager of the Paris gallery Boussod and Valadon (originally known as the Goupil Gallery) in 1890, supported Toulouse-Lautrec as his dealer, enabling the artist to stage exhibitions not only in France but also at the Goupil Gallery in London.
Though his mind and body were decimated by alcohol in later years, Toulouse-Lautrec's passion for art was reignited by his cousin Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran, and a variety friends, but above all, Joyant. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum collection contains invaluable examples of the relationship between the two men, including Toulouse-Lautrec's drawing of an alligator, meant to represent Joyant, that was included in Histoires Naturelles, and prints with dedications to his friend.
The work Maurice Joyant was made during a duck-hunting trip the men made with another friend to the seaside town of Crotoy. As Toulouse-Lautrec's failing health prevented him from working for long periods, Joyant posed on repeated occasions, and the finished portrait, based on a number of studies, conveys the deep bond between the two men.
Sister-Museum Relationship with the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi
In April 2009, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum formed a sister-museum relationship with the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, located in Albi, the artist's hometown, which is located in the department of Tarn in the Midi-Pyrénées region of southwest France.
The museum, located in the Palais de la Berbie, which was erected as a fortress in the 13th century and used for generations as a bishop's residence, was opened in July 1922 as a result of Maurice Joyant's efforts in the wake of the artist's death. Through the cooperation of the city and province, and the support of regional corporations and individuals, the facility has become a well-known tourist destination, currently attracting some 160,000 visitors annually from around the world. The museum's collection, representing the ultimate in both quantity and quality, consists of approximately 1,000 works, including oil paintings, prints, posters, and drawings, which were donated by the artist's mother, the Comtesse Adèle de Toulouse-Lautrec. The Toulouse-Lautrec works housed in the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, derived from the Maurice Joyant Collection, form a strong affinity with those in the Albi museum.
Toulouse-Lautrec and the Two Conders
Toulouse-Lautrec's friend Charles Conder (1868-1909) makes numerous appearances in the artist's depictions of various Parisian pleasures. Born in England, Conder moved to Australia as a youth and was an important artist who helped introduce French Post-Impressionism to the U.K. In Toulouse-Lautrec's works, however, he is portrayed as the archetypal man indulging in the nightlife of Paris, sometimes shown in a balcony seat at the theatre and other times in a private room at a brothel.
Conder was actually the relative of Josiah Conder (1852-1920), the designer of the original Meiji-era Mitsubishi Ichigokan. Thus, the contemporary museum is imbued with the wondrous historical connections between the two Conders and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
