Lot Essay
Both the subject matter and dating of this very rare lithograph have recently undergone revision. It is now known that it does not in fact represent the performance of a sailor's song at the Star, Le Havre, as the traditional title would suggest, but depicts the English entertainer Bessie Wentworth, née Elizabeth Andrews, singing Little Alabama Coon in a show in London. She is dressed in the striped plantation costume of the black American slave, the stock attire for such numbers in variety and musical comedy. The lithograph and its preparatory charcoal drawing (Dortu D. 4.451) have traditionally been catalogued as La Chanson du Matelot, au Star, Le Havre and Au Star du Havre, Chanteuse Anglaise, La Chanson du Matelot respectively, mistakenly relating them to some studies of English singers in sailor costumes the artist had made in Le Havre in 1896. It was naturally assumed that the striped costume of the singer was that of a sailor's suit. Recent research through photographic records, however, has now revealed Bessie Wentworth in her plantation costume as depicted here by Lautrec. This research was precipitated by the appearance of a previously unknown impression of this print at auction in London in December 1984, which was inscribed 'Miss X in the alabamah Coons.' (Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1984, lot 299, illustrated)
The above-mentioned print also put into question the traditional dating of 1899, as it came directly from the archives of the printer Chaix, with whom the artist had made his last print in 1896. Furthermore we know that Lautrec had been in London between 30 April and 4 May of that year, when Bessie Wentworth was singing Little Alabama Coon in one of the London music halls. It therefore seems quite clear that the artist made the preparatory drawing during his London visit and presumably made the lithograph at Chaix soon after his return to Paris.
The so-called 'coon' songs evolved from the travelling minstrel shows which first appeared in the 1830s, in which white actors would appear in 'burnt cork' blackface (the women without make-up, as we see here), singing songs and acting routines supposedly mimicking black dialects, entertainments and attitudes.
The artist evidently only printed a few proofs of this extremely rare print. Wittrock records only one other impression with the keystone printed in brown-olive as in the present example, presently in the Gerstenberg Collection. Two of the remaining three impressions were printed with the keystone in violet, one of which was signed in pencil (Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1984, lot 299, illustrated). The other bears the artist's red monogram stamp (Kornfeld & Klipstein, Auktion 137, 19 June 1970).
The above-mentioned print also put into question the traditional dating of 1899, as it came directly from the archives of the printer Chaix, with whom the artist had made his last print in 1896. Furthermore we know that Lautrec had been in London between 30 April and 4 May of that year, when Bessie Wentworth was singing Little Alabama Coon in one of the London music halls. It therefore seems quite clear that the artist made the preparatory drawing during his London visit and presumably made the lithograph at Chaix soon after his return to Paris.
The so-called 'coon' songs evolved from the travelling minstrel shows which first appeared in the 1830s, in which white actors would appear in 'burnt cork' blackface (the women without make-up, as we see here), singing songs and acting routines supposedly mimicking black dialects, entertainments and attitudes.
The artist evidently only printed a few proofs of this extremely rare print. Wittrock records only one other impression with the keystone printed in brown-olive as in the present example, presently in the Gerstenberg Collection. Two of the remaining three impressions were printed with the keystone in violet, one of which was signed in pencil (Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1984, lot 299, illustrated). The other bears the artist's red monogram stamp (Kornfeld & Klipstein, Auktion 137, 19 June 1970).