Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

(French, 1864 - 1901)

Femme au lit - Au petit lever (study for the lithograph for the eighth plate of "Elles" (Woman in Bed Greeted by her Mother))

, 1896

lightly applied lithographic crayon, or gray crayon, or very soft graphite on cream Japanese translucent paper laid down on Japanese Kozo paper

17 x 20 inches.

Property from the Collection of Janice and Philip Beck, Winnetka, Illinois

Provenance:

Emmanuel Tapié de Céleyran

M. Chappe

M. Knoedler & Co.

Marcel Guiot, Paris

Sold: Sotheby's, London, May 6, 1959, Lot 59

Eric Estorick (spelled Estorich in Dortu), acquired from the above sale

Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London

Art Properties Incorporated (Jean-Paul Getty Collection), California, 1959-1971, acquired from the above

J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California, given to the Museum in 1971

Sold: Christie's, London, July 1, 1980, Lot 106

Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesman, acquired at the above sale

Sold: Christie's, London, King Street, April 9, 2002, Lot 41

Colletti Gallery, Chicago

Private Collection, acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited:

Paris, Museé de l'Orangerie, Toulouse-Lautrec cinquantenaire, May-Aug. 1951, no. 108

Literature:

M.G. Dortu, Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre, vol. VI, New York, 1971, pp. 754-755, no. D.4.280, illus.

Burton B. Frederickson, Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, volume 1, Malibu, Calfornia, 1972, p. 108, no. 160, illus. (as Young Girl in Bed Greeted by Her Mother (Au petit lever))

Lot note:

From vaudeville performers and cabaret dancers to the “grandes cocottes,” Toulouse-Lautrec’s oeuvre candidly mirrors the entertainment world of Paris at the turn of the 20th century. The artist sought to portray the Belle Epoque society by chasing and conveying fleeting gestures and moments rather than solidifying his subjects into inert and uniform archetypes. This evocative character reveals the intrinsic drawing quality that imbues Toulouse-Lautrec’s work, notably through his expert use of line, especially within his favored mediums of lithography and painting.

The present drawing, Femme au Lit – Au Petit Lever (study for the lithograph for the eighth plate of “Elles” (Woman in Bed Greeted by her Mother)), especially demonstrates Toulouse-Lautrec’s distinctive style and subject matter. It depicts Madame Juliette Baron and her daughter, Mademoiselle Popo. Baron ran a brothel on Rue des Moulins, where, between 1892 and 1895, Toulouse-Lautrec spent weeks at a time, in addition to other “maisons closes” located on Rue d’Amboise and Rue Joubert. A year later, in 1896, his successive stays among the prostitutes of Paris yielded the lithographic series Elles (comprising 10 plates, a frontispiece and a cover), a pictorial account of these spaces at the periphery of society.

Toulouse-Lautrec’s gaze and renditions affirm no moral stand and offer a rather prosaic vision of prostitution, devoid of overt vice and eroticism. The women in Elles are shown in everyday situations, bathing, combing their hair, sleeping, or awakening, as in Femme au Lit – Au Petit Lever. These depictions align them with a somewhat universal vision of womanhood, also conveyed by the broad-meaning title Elles. Still, the subtle, decent, and ordinary character of Toulouse-Lautrec’s portrayals did not withstand the harsh judgment of bourgeois morality: of the 100 portfolios published by Gustave Pellet, only a few sold at the time, compelling him to break them up and sell prints individually.

(See Wittrock, Wolfgang. Toulouse-Lautrec: the complete prints. London: for Sotheby’s Publications by P. Wilson Publishers; New York, USAL Distributed by Harper & Row Publishers, 1985 and Gotz, Adriani. Toulouse-Lautrec: the complete graphic works: a catalogue raisonne: the Gerstenberg Collection. London: Thames and Hudson, 1988 for more detailed information on the Elles series).