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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec "L'Artisan Moderne" Lithograph
$55,000
A rare and well-sought variant of the celebrated poster "L'Artisan Moderne," by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, this special lithograph includes a seldom seen addition of the text reading "Qui?" in the upper right hand portion of the work. Completed as a favor to a friend André Marty, a publisher and dealer in the emerging field of graphic arts, to celebrate the founding of his galleries with the same moniker as Toulouse-Lautrec's work, this particular lithograph demonstrates beautifully the artist's homage to the Japanese woodblock prints he so admired. A perfect study in the dynamism of a picture plane and a celebration of the power of line, the composition depicts a lady in her boudoir being attended to by an artisan and her maid.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: ML-20041
Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Country: France
Circa: 1894
Dimensions: 25.4" width, 36" height
Materials: Lithograph paper, Giltwood gesso frame
Signed: Artist's monogram, "HTL''
Literature: Lithograph pictured in Toulouse Lautrec and the art of the French Poster, by Howard Coutts and Claire Jones, Bowes Museum, 2004. 53 p., ill; Lithograph pictured in Le Peintre-Graveur Illustré, by Loys Delteil, Vols X, XI. Paris, 1920, p. 192; Lithograph pictured in Toulouse-Lautrec i l'esperit de Montmartre, by Phillip Dennis Cate, Saskia Oooms, Michela Niccolai, Laurent Bihl, Ricard Bru i Turull, Barcelona: Obra Social la Caixa, 2018, p. 274
Exhibition History: Lithograph featured in Toulouse-Lautrec, by Colta Ives, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition catalogue for the exhibition of the same name at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from July 2 to September 29, 1996; Lithograph also featured in Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Accessions 1942, London: HMSO, 1955
Humorously, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec included his friend in this piece—the jeweler and medalist Henri Nocq, as the figure of the artisan. His head is curiously small, but his figure is wonderfully expressive, and the interplay of the three characters is made more interesting with the information that the artist had those in mind who he knew and loved in creating the composition.