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)