CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/9/2019

Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris opens at MFA Boston

Featured image is an 1895 lithograph from the catalog to MFA Boston's current exhibition, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris, organized around six of the artist's legendary muses of the bohemian cabaret world. Titled "Marcelle Lender," the stage name of Anne-Marie Marcelle Bastien, this print captures one of the most beloved stars of Paris's light opéra bouffe. According to Joanna Wendel, Lautrec's interest in Lender blossomed into an obsession when he saw her perform a Spanish-style bolero in the light opera Chilpéric that same year. "The production was a striking success, running for more than a hundred performances and drawing praise for its lavish set and costume designs." Wendel quotes a letter from Lautrec to French writer Romain Coolus: "I come strictly in order to see Lender's back… Look at it carefully; you seldom see anything so magnificent. Lender's back is sumptuous." She concludes by speculating that Lautrec may have drawn inspiration for the composition from Japanese color woodcut portraits of courtesans, noting the unusually prominent Japanese-style monogram in the upper left corner.