HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901) DIVAN JAPONAIS. 1893. 31x22 3/4 inches, 78 3/4x57 3/4 cm. Edw. Ancourt, Paris. Condition B+ / B: replaced loss at top edge; repaired tears, creases and rippling in margins and image. Matted and framed. The Divan Japonais was a small café-concert at 75 rue des Martyrs, where Yvette Guilbert performed after becoming popular through her act at the Moulin Rouge. This is Toulouse-Lautrec's only poster to show both Jane Avril and Yvette Guilbert, the two Montmartre demimondes who were both his friends and major inspirations. Jane Avril, the star dancer at the Moulin Rouge, is pictured here seated next to the literary critic, Édouard Dujardin. On stage in the background, Guilbert is depicted from the neck down, recognizable by her trademark long black gloves. The composition is built along the diagonal of the stage and the orchestra in the style of Japanese woodblock prints that were so fashionable in Paris at the end of the 19th century. Lautrec impishly punctures the diagonal with the priapic scrolls of the instruments. Delteil 341, Wittrock P2, Adriani 9, Reims 780, Weill 47, Maitres 1900 p. 49, DFP-II 824, Wine Spectator p. 49, Wember 761, Auriac p. 57, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 224, Modern Poster p. 45, Art Nouveau p. 96, Abdy p. 75.
