Toulouse-Lautrec:
Jane Avril
Click on the poster for a larger reproduction

THIS lithograph in five colors advertised for the debut of Jane Avril at the Jardin de Paris, a café-concert on the Champs-Elysées. The daughter of a demi-mondaine and an Italian count, Jane Avril grew up poor, beaten, and disturbed. She began her career as a dancer at the Moulin-Rouge in 1889, developing a relatively refined style that contrasted with the vulgar exhibitionism of La Goulue.

A publicity photo of Avril performing a high kick from the quadrille is thought to have served as Lautrec's model for the poster's preparatory oil sketch. To this he added an imaginary framing device, pulling each end of the stringed instrument's head into a cartoon-like bubble that encapsulates the dancer within its musical cell. It serves as an attention-grabber and also accompanies the rhythms of Jane's solo, repeating the shape of her skirts and relating her kicks to the musical source. Lautrec even added a choreographic flourish to the clef mark of the musical score.

Jane Avril
1893; Desloge 85; W P6b; D 345
Lithograph in five colors. 50 1/2 x 37 inches.
Text by the artist.
Gift of the Baldwin M. Baldwin Foundation, 1987:32

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