Accompanied an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, London, 16 June – 18 September 2011
160 pages, paperback, 260 x 216 mm, 100 illustrations
PRICE: £30.00
ISBN: 978 1 907372 24 7
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Accompanying an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, London, this publication is the first to celebrate the important creative collaboration between the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) and his muse, the dancer Jane Avril (1868–1943). Avril was one of the stars of Moulin Rouge in the 1890s, and was nicknamed ‘La Mélinite’ after a form of explosive. Known for her alluring style and exotic persona, her fame was assured by a series of dazzlingly inventive posters designed by Lautrec. She became an emblematic figure in his world of dancers, cabaret actors, musicians and prostitutes, but she was also one of the artist’s closest friends. Their friendship is reflected in a series of remarkable portraits in which the star is shown as a private individual, contrasting with her exotic poster image and performances at the Moulin Rouge.
Centered around The Courtauld’s painting Jane Avril in the Entrance to the Moulin Rouge, this exhibition catalogue brings together an exceptional group of paintings, posters and prints from international collections. It explores the remarkable creative partnership which captured the excitement and spectacle of bohemian Paris.
"With important loans from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Wadsworth Athenaeum supplemented with photographs of Jane and theatrical memorabilia, this is a terrific little show of the sort that the Courtauld does with panache. It also has a good catalogue, with an introductory essay by curator Nansy Ireson that I couldn't put down." – Richard Dorment, The Daily Telegraph, 21 June 2011
"The reader experience is enhanced by language that is neither technical nor complex, and the book will appeal to all readers." – Suite101, 20 June 2011
This exhibition and catalogue celebrates the most gifted, inventive and eccentric amateurs of the 18th and early 19th centuries with a selection of drawings, engravings and portraits gathered from Soane's collection and other museums, archives and private houses around the country. More