HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901) SALON DES CENT. 1895. 23 1/4x15 1/4 inches, 59x38 3/4 cm. Bourgerie & Cie., Paris. Condition A. Matted and framed. Although advertising an exhibition at the Salon des Cent, this poster is familiarly referred to as La Passagère du 54 or Promendae en Yacht. The beautiful subject is a young woman Lautrec encountered during the summer of 1895, when he was travelling by boat from Le Havre to Bordeaux to visit his mother. She was staying in cabin 54. Despite the fact that she was on her way to Africa to meet her husband, Lautrec became so smitten with her beauty that he stayed on the boat, intent on following her all the way to Dakar. It took Lautrec's travelling companion, Maurice Guibert, to pull the artist off the boat, but he was unable to do so until the ship reached Lisbon. Lautrec worked from a photograph taken on board to create this lithograph, which was then bought by the Salon des Cent and used as a poster to advertise their International Poster Exhibition. Delteil 366 II, Adhemar 188 II, Adriani 145 III, Wittrock P20 III, Reims 790, Wember 766, DFP-II 843.
