Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

L'Image--Marthe Mellot debout de profil

細節
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
L'Image--Marthe Mellot debout de profil
signed with artist's monogram and inscribed 'L'IMAGE revue Mensuellé Littéraire et artistique ...rnée de figures sur bois l'année 25fr le numéro 2,50 Rédaction et Administration artistique 4 rue des Petitso Champs Floury éditeur 1 Boulevard des Capucines' (along the right side)
thinned oil, pen and India ink, pencil with paper collage on board
18¾ x 12 7/8 in. (47.7 x 32.87 cm.)
Executed in 1897
來源
Alfred Natanson, Paris (acquired from the artist).
Annette Vaillant, Paris (by descent from the above).
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Athis (by 1931).
出版
M. Joyant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, 1926, vol. I, p. 253. M.G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre, New York, 1971, vol. III, p. 400, no. P.654 (illustrated, p. 401).
展覽
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, April-May 1931, p. 52, no. 161 (titled L'Image).
Paris, Galerie Bernheim Jeune & Cie, Exposition de Cent ans de Théâtre, Music-Hall et Cirque, May-July 1936, p. 49, no. 106 (titled Portrait de Mademoiselle Marthe Mellot).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, October-December 1979, pp. 276-277, no. 89 (illustrated).

拍品專文

During the 1890s, La Comédie Française kept alive the traditional and classical aspects of French theater, while new companies such as Aurelian Lugné-Poë's Théâtre de l'Oeuvre, and André Antoine's Théâtre Libre, heavily influenced by the new symbolist dramas of Maurice Maeterlinck, constituted the new avant-garde.

Marthe Mellot was the leading actress in the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre, which Lugné-Poë inaugurated in 1893 with a production of Ibsen's Rosmersholm. She was married to Alfred Natanson, whose older brothers Alexandre and Thadée had founded the famous literary and cultural review La Revue Blanche in 1891. Thadée was married to the Polish pianist Misia, who quickly became a celebrity in her own right. The sisters-in-law Misia and Marthe were inspirational muses to a host of artists and writers in the fin de siècle avant-garde.

In his folio Portraits d'Acteurs & d'Actrices, Treize Lithographies, published in 1898, Lautrec drew personalities mostly associated with La Comédie Française, but he was interested in the repertory of the more progressive companies as well. The present work, a projected cover for the review L'Image, shows Marthe Mellot standing in contemporary dress (in contrast to the period costumes one usually saw at La Comédie Française). "Mellot's attractive yet menacing presence suggests the role of the dangerously seductive female so important to French avant-garde theater at the turn of the century" (E.M. Maurer, in Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings, exh. cat. op. cit., p. 277).

This is Lautrec's most insightful characterization of Mellot. The artist drew her on several occasions around this time (Dortu, nos. D. 4.562, S. 4.659-663 and D. 4.672). He also featured her in his last poster, La Gitane (Delteil 368; Wittrock P 30), done in 1899 for the production of Jean Richepin's play at the Théâtre Libre and there is a large oil sketch related to the poster (Dortu, no. P.717).