Original Poster for the Divan Japonais paper backed with linen newly framed

Designed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

For Edouard Fournier

Printed by Edward Ancourt, Paris

Circa 1893

Height 84cm framed

Width 64cm framed

An iconic powerful image of the late 19th century this is an original poster now quite beaten up but still creating its own atmosphere through patination and time.

An important piece of graphic art.

Toulouse-Lautrec eventually established himself as the premier poster artist of Paris. So when Édouard Fournier re-opened his Divan Japonais cabaret after a refurbishment, he commissioned the artist to help him spread the word. Toulouse-Lautrec made Divan Japonais, a poster that opens onto the cabaret’s lively interior. Into this space he set three figures, each one a good friend of his and a prominent, widely recognized member of the Parisian performance and literary scene. At the center of the composition sits the slender Jane Avril, a famous cancan dancer. To her right, his yellow beard mingling with his ruffled cravat, is art critic and literary journal founder Édouard Dujardin. In the far background, the singer Yvette Guilbert performs on stage. Though Toulouse-Lautrec cropped her head out of the frame, viewers would immediately recognize the long, black gloves as her signature accessory.

Publication excerpt from The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, revised 2004, originally published 1999, p. 41.