Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the cafe-concert: Printmaking, publicity, and celebrity in fin-de-siecle Paris (France).

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has long epitomized fin-de-siècle Paris. His posters, prints, and paintings immortalized the café-concert stars of the 1890s in an innovative way, bringing a bold modernist visual vocabulary to the new business of advertising and publicity. His work crossed high art with ephemeral advertising, emphasized the mixture of social classes, and above all asserted the individuality and star power of the café-concert stars he depicted.
These performers—dancers, singers, actors, and actresses—were the focus of intense interest at the end of the century, when public fascination with celebrity reached new heights and the café-concert was at its apogee. Toulouse-Lautrec thus wisely situated himself at the juncture of several important streams of public life: he allied himself with the most innovative new methods of production (original prints, four-color poster lithography, luxury bookmaking), the most prominent performers (including Jane Avril, Aristide Bruant, La Goulue, and Yvette Guilbert), and the most popular of fin-de-siècle entertainments, the café-concert. In so doing, Lautrec styled himself as the chronicler of <italic>montmartrois</italic> entertainment and crafted a personal image not only for the stars he depicted, but also for his own work and life, successfully melding publicity with biography.
This dissertation investigates the work of Toulouse-Lautrec in the context of this nexus of practices and conditions: the cult of personality surrounding café-concert performers, the role of the color poster and original print, and the intersection of art, advertising, and consumer products. Furthermore, I examine the importance for entertainers and artists to market their personalities in the highly competitive and spectacular arena of fin-de-siècle Paris. By investigating these diverse yet related discourses, this study presents a new interpretation of Lautrec's work and seeks to offer a greater understanding of the forces that launched our modern culture of art, personality, and promotion.