Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) - Salon des Cent...

HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (Albi, 1864 – Saint-André-du-Bois, 1901) La Passagère du 54 – Promenade en Yacht Salon des Cent – Exposition Internationale d’Affiches 1895–1896 Original color lithograph on beige vélin paper. Dimensions: approximately 61 × 41 cm. Printer: Imprimerie Bourgerie & Cie., Paris. Toulouse-Lautrec’s monogram incorporated into the composition. Catalogue references: Delteil 366; Adhémar 188; Adriani 137; Wittrock P20. The piece you show matches, in composition, dimensions, texts and the printer’s mark “IMP. BOURGERIE & Cie PARIS,” with the third and final state of this famous Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph: precisely the state converted into a poster for the Exposition Internationale d’Affiches of the Salon des Cent, at 31 rue Bonaparte in Paris. The Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogs this third state as a poster and specifies its process as a color lithograph executed with brush, pencil and splatter (crachis). Presentation for auction catalog Magnificent and rare original color lithograph by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, produced at the height of his graphic output and intended for the mythical Salon des Cent of Paris, one of the main showcases of the new graphic art of the Belle Époque. The composition, known as La Passagère du 54 or Promenade en Yacht, comes from an episode in the artist’s life. During a sea voyage in 1895 with his friend Maurice Guibert, Toulouse-Lautrec became fascinated by an elegant passenger whose identity he did not know and who occupied cabin no. 54. He depicted her resting in a deck chair, gazing abstractly at the sea. Princeton preserves a copy and dates the work to 1895–96, directly linking it to that voyage. Subsequently, this image was adapted to announce an Exposition Internationale de Cartes du Salon des Cent (International Exhibition of Posters). In the third state, the large handwritten inscriptions designed by Lautrec himself—Salon des Cent and Exposition Internationale d’Affiches—were added, turning the print into a true advertisement poster. The British Museum confirms that it was precisely the third state used as the poster for the exhibition. The importance of these original posters goes far beyond advertising. Toulouse-Lautrec was one of the artists responsible for elevating the street poster of the late 19th century to the status of a work of art. In contrast to traditional advertising, he introduced radically simplified compositions, large flat color fields, photographic- and Japanese-inspired framing, typography embedded within the composition, and extraordinary economy of line. His posters are today one of the fundamental chapters in the birth of modern graphic design. Moreover, unlike later reproductions, this is a work conceived from the outset to be printed in color lithography during the artist’s lifetime. Copies of this composition are currently held in major institutional collections such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France, LACMA, Albertina, British Museum, National Gallery of Art, and Princeton University Art Museum. LACMA, for example, holds a copy of La Passagère du 54 measuring approximately 59 × 40 cm. The technique: why it is special This is not a modern print based on a photographic image. It is an original color lithograph. Lautrec drew directly on the lithographic stones using greasy pencil and brush; for the grainy effects he used the so-called crachis, a splatter technique that produces the characteristic speckling visible especially in the sky and certain surfaces of the poster. The BnF specifically describes this work as made with brush, pencil and crachis. Each color required its own preparation and printing, with successive passes perfectly registered. Hence, when observing an original from the period, the colors do not have the uniformity of a digital reproduction: there are small variations, overlays and textures that are part of the process. In your copy, the especially interesting features are the greenish-blue sea and lettering, the yellows of the chair and hair, the orange touches of the figure and, above all, the crachis in the background. The printer Bourgerie & Cie., Paris is also present, matching the copies cataloged in institutional collections. The Albertina lists this work as a color lithograph printed by Bourgerie & Cie. with dimensions of 60.8 × 40.6 cm, exceptionally close to your copy’s approximately 61 × 41 cm.

Estimación:€12,000

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