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拍品專文
In late February - early March 1899, Lautrec's alcoholism had become so injurious to his health and mental stability that his despairing mother had him committed against his will to the clinic of Dr Réné Sémelaigne in Neuilly. There he remained for the next eleven weeks. His confinement was controversial, and his defenders argued heatedly against it in the press. At first he sketched on whatever came to hand, but in mid-March he received the necessary materials to draw, make lithographs and paint. He decided that he would undertake a series of drawings that were so disciplined and masterly that they would serve as indisputable proof to Dr Sémelaigne that he had regained control of his life, and could be released.
He chose the circus as his theme; the subject was close to his heart, and evoked memories going back to his childhood. Furthermore, the spectacle of the circus was all the rage in Paris during the 1890s, and he could look back to some prestigious precedents in the work of Degas, Renoir and Seurat, as well as his own celebrated painting, Au Cirque Fernando, l'écuyère, 1888 (Dortu, no. P.312; The Art Institute of Chicago), which hung in the large corridor at the fabled Moulin Rouge in Montmartre. The circus was then chiefly a display of daring feats on horseback. Lautrec was expert at drawing figures and horses, and indeed, the long years of practise that he had put into these subjects proved crucial to the success of his project, for he had no access to models at the clinic, which compelled him to draw entirely from memory and imagination.
Lautrec began the drawings in March, and by 12 April, when he could obtain authorisation for supervised outings from the clinic, he wrote to his friend Joseph Albert that his circus album was growing. On 17 May Dr Sémelaigne and his staff noted substantial improvement in the artist's condition, and authorised his release. Lautrec was proud of his circus album, which by any comparison was an extraordinary feat of sustained, virtuosic draughtsmanship. These drawings, numbering 37 in all, are among his greatest, and comprise one of the final, crowning achievements of his career. Not least of all, they served their immediate purpose: Lautrec declared as he departed the clinic, "I've bought my release with my drawings" (quoted in M. Joyant, op. cit., 1926, p. 222).
Maurice Joyant (1864-1930), the life-long friend of the artist and his first biographer, was the first owner of the Au cirque series. In 1890 Joyant became director of the gallery Goupil et Cie on the boulevard Montmartre, where he gave Lautrec his first solo exhibition in 1893. Goupil et Cie was later reorganized under the name of Manzi, Joyant et Cie. In 1905, four years after the artist's death, Manzi-Joyant issued a volume of 22 Au cirque drawings, fulfilling Lautrec's wish that the drawings be published in book form.
He chose the circus as his theme; the subject was close to his heart, and evoked memories going back to his childhood. Furthermore, the spectacle of the circus was all the rage in Paris during the 1890s, and he could look back to some prestigious precedents in the work of Degas, Renoir and Seurat, as well as his own celebrated painting, Au Cirque Fernando, l'écuyère, 1888 (Dortu, no. P.312; The Art Institute of Chicago), which hung in the large corridor at the fabled Moulin Rouge in Montmartre. The circus was then chiefly a display of daring feats on horseback. Lautrec was expert at drawing figures and horses, and indeed, the long years of practise that he had put into these subjects proved crucial to the success of his project, for he had no access to models at the clinic, which compelled him to draw entirely from memory and imagination.
Lautrec began the drawings in March, and by 12 April, when he could obtain authorisation for supervised outings from the clinic, he wrote to his friend Joseph Albert that his circus album was growing. On 17 May Dr Sémelaigne and his staff noted substantial improvement in the artist's condition, and authorised his release. Lautrec was proud of his circus album, which by any comparison was an extraordinary feat of sustained, virtuosic draughtsmanship. These drawings, numbering 37 in all, are among his greatest, and comprise one of the final, crowning achievements of his career. Not least of all, they served their immediate purpose: Lautrec declared as he departed the clinic, "I've bought my release with my drawings" (quoted in M. Joyant, op. cit., 1926, p. 222).
Maurice Joyant (1864-1930), the life-long friend of the artist and his first biographer, was the first owner of the Au cirque series. In 1890 Joyant became director of the gallery Goupil et Cie on the boulevard Montmartre, where he gave Lautrec his first solo exhibition in 1893. Goupil et Cie was later reorganized under the name of Manzi, Joyant et Cie. In 1905, four years after the artist's death, Manzi-Joyant issued a volume of 22 Au cirque drawings, fulfilling Lautrec's wish that the drawings be published in book form.