Artist: Toulouse-Lautrec French (1864-1901)
Title: La Revue Blanche
Plate: PL. 82
Original lithograph from "Les Maitres de L'Affiche" series.
Printed by Imprimerie Chaix, Paris, 1897.
Reference: Wittrock, P16B; Adriani, 130-II; Driehaus, p. 117; PAI-LXXXIII, 468
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat.
Certificate of Authenticity.
Maitre Sheet Size: approx 11 3/8 in x 15 3/4 in 29 cm x 40 cm
Price: $2400.00 Rare
Full size sold for $ 31,200 US Poster Auctions International, N.Y. Nov 2012.
Preliminary sketch for poster
"Many people feel (this poster) is (Toulouse-Lautrec's) strongest individual work" (Frey)
"This design advertised the fortnightly 'La Revue Blanche' avant-garde artistic and literary periodical that was founded in Belgium in 1889 by the Natanson brothers and moved to Paris when they did. There, they were among the first to recognize Toulouse-Lautrec's unconventional genius, and freely published his drawings in the magazine. They also became friends socially, and the artist became a frequent participant in the intimate gatherings at the home of one of the brothers, Thadee Natanson, whose wife Misia enjoyed the company of stimulating intellectuals, artists, and writers. It is Misa we see in this poster, and her rather unusual stance is explained by the fact that she is actually on skates. As one of the movers and shakers among the literary set, Misia was the most emancipated women of her generation. Toulouse-Lautrec, who could be mercilessly scathing, pays her homage with an entirely sympathetic portrayal." (Gold p.68)
Misia Natansan in studio with Lautrec
"This official poster for La Revue Blanche is considered by many to be Lautrec's strongest individual work. In it, using a combination of economical line and implied movement, large flat areas of color and carefully observed detail, he shows Misia Natanson, wife of the magazine's editor, Thadée Natanson, ice-skating at the Palais de Glace, an ice rink opened at the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées by Jules Roques in 1894. The entire poster is like a little joke, as if Lautrec were amusing himself by proving that he could show an ice-skater without ever showing her skates" (Frey, p. 408).