“Toulouse-Lautrec & the Belle Époque,” the Polk Museum of Art’s largest exhibition to date, acquaints visitors with 19th century Paris and the life of post-Impressionist artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. With more than 215 works spanning three galleries, the exhibition opens to the public on Saturday.
Toulouse-Lautrec produced a wide range of works in a decade-long career. Creating a variety of projects, including posters, prints, drawings and engravings, Toulouse-Lautrec’s works portray the bohemian, avant-garde culture of late 19th century Paris and the “Beautiful Age,” or “Belle Époque.” Depicting such scenes as the Moulin Rouge and Montmartre, his art shows a world in which culture and abnormality flourished.
“Toulouse-Lautrec & the Belle Époque” will run at the Polk Museum of Art from Feb. 13 to May 23. The museum currently has limited hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays. They are closed Sundays and Mondays. While admission is free, advanced reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made at polkmuseumofart.org.
“I think 1890s Paris in particular is one of those most storied eras where people really dream about the cabarets, dream about the Moulin Rouge, dream about advanced artistic culture,” museum Director Dr. Alexander Rich said. “And Toulouse-Lautrec, whether people recognize his name or not, [they] are actually very familiar with him.”
“Eldorado_ Aristide Bruant,” Color Lithograph, 1892, 54×38 inches,
Courtesy of PAN Art Connections, Inc.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “Divan Japonais,” Color Lithograph, 1893, 38×24 inches,
Courtesy of PAN Art Connections, Inc.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “La Troupe de Mademoiselle Eglantine,” Color Lithograph, 1896, 24×32 inches, courtesy of PAN Art Connections, Inc.
While born into an aristocratic family, Toulouse-Lautrec preferred the outsider nature of the anti-bourgeois Bohemia. Stunted at birth, the artist found solace in joining with outsiders, who felt different and set-apart from the “high society” in Paris.
“He produced so much of a commentary, of a narrative on the world in which he was himself immersed,” Rich said. “And mix that in with his biography, and you get a really deep and fascinating tale of a man who was born into nobility, who was stunted as a child, so he became an outsider and an Other, with a capital ‘O.’ And then he develops this great career where he becomes this insider in a society of people who are also outsiders in the elite world of Paris.”
Though many people may not know his name immediately, Rich believes they are likely to recognize his art. With works described as “dynamic and instantly recognizable in their distinct style and use of unconventional materials and methods,” by The Art Institute of Chicago, the artist was popular in his own time, receiving commissions for his work.
“We are so immersed in visual culture, and even in this time of social isolation, think about how much time we’ve all spent digesting commercial media,” Rich said. “I think we’ve all come to realize the arts are so essential in our lives and they can become things that connect us, whether they’re kind of ‘elitist’ or they’re just the most simple, entertaining art form. And Toulouse-Lautrec really represents that in his work. He makes ‘high art’ out of the most basic, entertaining forms that are just meant to be fun.”
This is one of the first large-scale and in-person exhibits to open in the museum since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming from the private collection of Paul Firos, founder of the Herakleidon Museum in Athens, Greece, the show has been in development for almost three and a half years, delayed almost eight months by the pandemic.
“The pandemic threw off a lot of museums’ timelines, including our own, so that we had to reshuffle exhibitions that were planned and move others around, and certainly put some on hold,” Rich said. “But Toulouse-Lautrec, which I had begun planning in a very different era, was actually on our books all the way from 2017.”
Rich hopes that the exhibition will act as a respite for people in this time of uncertainty, granting both familiarity and a learning experience.
“To have your mind focused on something else for just a little bit of time and look at the world through another person’s eyes, that can be really impactful in changing your own outlook on your own life and maybe your interaction with other people,” Rich said. “So I really hope this is something that can be both affirming in people’s lives, but also perhaps enlightening.”
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