Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

French, 1864-1901

Jane Avril

Public Domain

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Public Domain

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Public Domain

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Jane Avril, 1893

Artwork Details

Materials

lithograph poster printed in five colors

Measurements

sheet: 50 5/8 x 36 7/8 inches (128.59 x 93.66 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Gift of A. Conger Goodyear, 1949

Accession ID

P1949:40.61A

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's lifelong friendship with dancer Jane Avril (French, 1868–1943) is perhaps most famously represented in his series of graphic works featuring the performer. In 1893, she commissioned this poster to advertise her cabaret show at the Jardin de Paris, one of many café and concert halls on the Champs-Élysées. The composition, executed from a unique perspective with large areas of flat color, displays qualities borrowed from ukiyo-e—a type of Japanese woodblock printmaking that greatly influenced Toulouse-Lautrec’s style. In this image, Avril’s dispirited expression is contrasted with the suggestive nature of her performance, thereby suggesting that the artist was perceptive of not just Avril’s bodily gestures but also emotions.

Label from Monet and the Impressionist Revolution, 1860–1910, November 15, 2015–March 20, 2016

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