Monday 10 October 2016

Belle Époque - part 9

The Belle Époque (the Beautiful Period) in France is conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It was a period characterised by optimism, regional peace and economic prosperity, and of technological, scientific, and cultural innovation. Whilst showing key works from the Belle Epoque, I am including works from the fall-out of the period almost up to World War II, so as to put these works in context.

Artists in the late 1800s found opportunities to present their work to the masses through advertising art that began to appear as billboards and posters, plastering the streets of Paris. “Affiche Artistique” was the term that the French used to describe a poster that contained artistic expression.  The art was so impressive to the public, people began to collect the posters as soon as they went up, which is why they are so scarce today.  

Artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, and Alfred Choubrac, contributed to the creative body of work that became what some called  “a free museum for the masses”.  The craze for collecting these examples of modern art was even given the name, "affichomanie", meaning “artistic poster mania”.  Collectors today pay hundreds, if not thousands for original prints of these rare posters.

This is part 9, the final part of a 9-part series on art of the Belle Epoque. For more works in the series see parts 1 - 8 also.


Henri de Toulouse-Lautec (1864 - 1901)



Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker and illustrator whose immersion into the colourful and theatrical life of Paris during the Belle Époque allowed him to produce elegant and evocative, and sometimes decadent images. He spent much time in the Parisian brothels, where he was accepted and would sometimes live, recording the colourful life therein.
An alcoholic for most of his adult life, he was placed in a santorium shortly before his death at the age of 36. He died of complications due to alcoholism and syphilis at the family estate in Malrome, France.


1892 At the Moulin Rouge, La Goulue with Her Sister
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
45.8 x 34.7 cm
Private Collection

1892 La Goulue Arriving at the Moulin Rouge with Two Women
by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
oil on cardboard
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
1891 Moulin Rouge, La Goulue 
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 
lithograph 191 x 117 cm

La Goulue

1891-92c Jane Avril Dancing
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
oil on cardboard 86.5 x 65 cm
Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris

1892 Jane Avril Dancing
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
oil on cardboard 85.5 x 45 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
1893 Jane Avril, Jardin de Paris
poster by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

Jane Avril 

1893 Divan Japonais, Jane Avril, Jardin de Paris
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
outline and watercolour test poster

1893 Divan Japonais, Jane Avril, Jardin de Paris 
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

1899 Jane Avril
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

Jane Avril 

1892 Ambassadeurs Paris, Aristide Bruant
poster by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

1892 Ambassadeurs Paris, Aristide Bruant 
poster by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
1893 Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1893 Bruant au Mirliton
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Eldorado, Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Aristide Bruant

1892 Reine de Joie
test poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1892 Reine de Joie
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1892 The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge
lithograph by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
90 x 64 cm
Private Collection

1892-95 At the Moulin Rouge
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
oil on canvas 123 x 141 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1893 Cadieux
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1893 Le Matin
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1893 Le Missionnaire
programme by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

1893 Le Missionnaire 
programme by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

1893 La Loïe Fuller
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
brush and spatter lithograph in five colours 38 x 25.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

1893 La Loïe Fuller
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
oil on board 63.2 x 45.3 cm

La Loïe Fuller
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

La Loïe Fuller 

1893 Nicolle
lithograph by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1894 Babylone d'Allemagne
stage 1 poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1894 Babylone d'Allemagne 
stage 2 poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1895 Bust of Miss Marcelle Lender
stage 1 lithograph 30.5 x 25.4
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1895 Bust of Miss Marcelle Lender 
stage 2 lithograph 30.5 x 25.4 
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Marcelle Lender

1895 La Dépêche, Le Tocsin
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1895 May Belfort
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1895 May Milton
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1895 The Chap Book (Irish and American Bar)
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (test proof)

1895 The Chap Book (Irish and American Bar) 
by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

1896 Extra in the Folies Bergère Revue
by Henri de Touluse-Lautrec
oil on cardboard

1896 l'Artisan Moderne
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 La Chaîne Simpson
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 La Vache Enragée
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 Own exhibition poster
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 P. Sescau, Photographe
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 Salon des Cent
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 Troupe de Mlle Elegantine
stage 1 poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896 Troupe de Mlle Elegantine 
poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896c Mrs. Lona Barrison avec son Manager et Époux
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
lithograph 26.7 x 12.2 cm
Brooklyn Museum, NY

1900 Au Bal des Etudiants
poster by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

In the Moulin Rouge
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
pastel on cardboard 56.4 x 42 cm
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

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