Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,
Miss Loie Fuller, a
lithograph
France, AD 1893
A remarkable image of a remarkable
dancer
Loie Fuller (1864-1901) was an American dancer
who came to perform at the Folies-Bergère in Paris in 1892. Her act
was a huge success; she swirled long drapes around herself,
extending her reach with poles, while being lit in kaleidoscopic
colours and by spotlights. The flowing lines and glowing colours of
her dance have been credited as an influence on Art Nouveau, and
many prints and small bronzes were made of her dance. She described
herself as a 'sculptor of light', and even Rodin
praised her strange 'art of the
future'.
This was
Toulouse-Lautrec's first colour lithograph that was not a
poster. He produced around sixty impressions from five stones, each
uniquely coloured and some (including this from The British Museum)
dusted with gold or silver powder to catch the light with a
shimmering effect. Some survive with a passepartout mount specially
designed for it. The British Museum
impression
is signed by Toulouse-Lautrec, and marked 'Passe':
it is though that this indicates to the printer that he was content
with the quality, and the edition could be run
off.
F. Carey and A. Griffiths, From Manet to Toulouse-Lautrec, exh. cat. (London, The British Museum Press, 1978)
W. Wittrock, Toulouse-Lautrec: the complete (London, Sotheby's Publications, 1985)