Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - Editions & Works on Paper New York Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | Phillips

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  • “I have endeavored to depict the truth, not an ideal.”
    —Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

    The Elles portfolio is widely regarded as Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s definitive work from this period. As one of the most prolific lithographers of the nineteenth century, Lautrec held the medium in high regard as a means of artistic expression, owing to the great flexibility and control lithography afforded him in comparison to other graphic forms. In these prints, Lautrec often combines the evocative and powerful primacy of line often with planes of color that recall the Japanese woodblock prints that gained immense popularity and influence in nineteenth century Europe.

     

    Torii Kiyonaga, Three Geishas of Tachibana Street in Their Room, 1784, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image: © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Henry L. Phillips Collection, Bequest of Henry L. Phillips, 1939, JP2800

    In the years preceding the creation of the Elles portfolio, Toulouse-Lautrec became well acquainted with the prostitutes who lived and worked in many of the Parisian brothels, observing, sketching, and often living with the women. Lautrec devoted the entirety of Elles to his experience at the brothels, seeking to portray the women sympathetically and without the morality or overt eroticism common in his contemporaries’ depictions of similar subjects. Instead, Lautrec sought to depict these women engaged in in their everyday activities, whether they be grooming at a wash table or dozing off in bed. While many artists depicted the brothels in Paris as an outside visitor, the familiarity of the women with the artist enabled him to capture these moments of unguarded preoccupation, tender and unglamorous. Lautrec’s neutral approach is further reflected in the more generalist descriptor of the title Elles – the artist had previously rejected the title La Fille (The Harlot) for the portfolio.

     

    Elles initially proved to be a commercial failure for its publisher – Gustave Pellet, who specialized in erotica – because it thwarted expectations of brothel scenes by delivering an intimate portrayal of the women as opposed to an exotic, titillating fantasy. Following its first exhibition in 1896 in the gallery of the literary and artistic periodical La Plume, art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard exhibited the series in June 1897 at his own gallery, where it was offered as a complete set for 300 francs or as individual lithographs for 25 francs each. The considerable price at the time reflected the beautiful, high production value of the portfolio as well as the great esteem in which Vollard held Toulouse-Lautrec as a printmaker.

    • Literature

      Loys Delteil 179
      Jean Adhémar 200
      Wolfgang Wittrock 155

180

Frontispiece, from Elles (D. 179, A. 200, W. 155)

1896
Lithograph in colors, on wove paper watermarked G. Pellet T. Lautrec, linen-backed, the full sheet.
S. 20 3/8 x 15 3/4 in. (51.8 x 40 cm)
Wittrock's second state (of three), from the edition of 100, published by Gustave Pellet, Paris, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$6,000 - 9,000 

Sold for $6,350

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Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 16 - 17 April