National Gallery of Art

Overview

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec had a passion for the theater in all its forms, from the popular dance halls and cabarets to the avant-garde theaters of Paris. He was both a keen spectator and an active participant, designing posters, theater programs, scenery, and costumes for a number of theaters and stage productions. Although he was drawn to the spectacle of the performance, it was the performers who most fascinated him.

Among Toulouse-Lautrec's favorite subjects was the red-headed actress Marcelle Lender. He first encountered her in 1893, the year he began to attend the theater on a regular basis. His infatuation with her reached its peak two years later when she starred in the revival of the French librettist and composer Hervé's Chilpéric. Performed at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris from February 1 to May 1, 1895, this comic operetta recounted the tale of Chilpéric, king of the Franks in the late sixth century. In a bid to consolidate his power, he allied himself with the Visigoths in Spain through a marriage to the princess Galeswinthe, even as his vengeful mistress Frédégonde plotted her murder. It was neither the melodramatic narrative nor the extravagant staging of the operetta that most appealed to Toulouse-Lautrec, however, but the actress in the role of the princess. Like all his "furias" (as the artist termed his fixations on certain performers), this one was brief but intense. During the operetta's three-month run, he attended it more than twenty times, arriving just to see Lender dance the bolero in the second act. When asked about his devotion to the play, Toulouse-Lautrec explained, "I come strictly in order to see Lender's back. Look carefully; you will seldom see anything as wonderful. Lender's back is sumptuous." He sketched and studied the actress diligently, ultimately producing six lithographs inspired by her appearance in Chilpéric (five of them of the performance itself) and two paintings, including this monumental canvas. Toulouse-Lautrec's admiration was not reciprocated. "What a horrible man!," Lender is said to have remarked. "He is very fond of me….But as for the portrait you can have it!"

One of the largest and most elaborate paintings Toulouse-Lautrec ever created, Marcelle Lender Dancing the Bolero in "Chilpéric" depicts the very scene the artist so enjoyed, in which Galeswinthe performs the bolero, a lively dance from her native Spain, for her future husband and his courtiers. She dominates the center of the composition. Dressed in a Spanish-inspired costume composed of black and bright complementary shades of red and green, her body is described in strong, sinuous lines. Toulouse-Lautrec's portrayal of the actress is both dynamic and sensual. He captures her at mid-movement, as one long leg, clad in black stockings, juts boldly outward from a swirl of pink petticoats, mimicking the silk flowers she wears in her hair in form and color. Her low-cut bodice accentuates her ample bosom, which is tinged green from the reflected glow of the footlights. All eyes are upon her as she dances, from King Chilpéric, seated on his throne at left, to Galeswinthe's brother, Don Nervoso, who stands, arms akimbo, at the far right. Gazing at her from behind with an expression of open appreciation, it is Don Nervoso and not the viewer who is the beneficiary of the fine view of Lender's back, and as such he may be a stand-in for the artist himself.

Inscription

lower left estate stamp in red: HTL [in a circle]

Provenance

The estate of the artist, 1901;[1] Maurice Joyant [1864-1930]; by whom bequeathed to Mme M.G. Dortu;[2] sold 1 August 1950 through (Hector Brame, Paris)[3] to Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, New York; gift 1990 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1914

Exposition Rétrospective de l'Oeuvre de H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, 1914, no. 86.

1931

Exposition H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1931, no. 147, repro.

1947

Toulouse-Lautrec, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1947, no. 43, repro.

1950

Toulouse-Lautrec 1864-1901: A Loan Exhibition of Masterpieces from the Collection of The Lautrec Museum, Albi, France, M. Knoedler & Co, New York, 1950, unnnumbered, repro. in catalogue

1951

French Painting 1100-1900, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1951, no. 127, repro.

1951

Selections from Five New York Private Collections, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1951, unnumbered catalogue.

1954

Benefit for the North Shore Hospital, Country Art Gallery, Westbury, Long Island, 1954, unnumbered checklist.

1955

Paintings from Private Collections, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1955, unnumbered catalogue.

1955

Toulouse-Lautrec, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1955; Art Institute of Chicago, 1956, no. 58, repro.

1956

Toulouse-Lautrec: paintings, drawings, posters and lithographs, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1956, no. 36, repro.

1960

The John Hay Whitney Collection, The Tate Gallery, London, 1960-1961, no. 58, repro.

1978

Loan to display with permanent collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1983

The John Hay Whitney Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983, no. 29, repro.

1991

Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, 252-253, color repro.

1994

Toulouse-Lautrec: Marcelle Lender in "Chilpéric", National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1994-1995, booklet, fig. 1 and color repro. on cover.

1998

Gifts to the Nation from Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no cat.

2008

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2008, fig. 20.

2014

Paris 1900: La Ville spectacle, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 2014, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1938

Astre, Achille. H. de Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris, 1938:82, repro.

1956

Rewald, John. "French Paintings in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney." The Connoisseur 134, no. 552 (April 1956):138, repro.

1959

Serullaz, Maurice. Les Peintres Impressionistes. Paris, 1959: repro. p. 116

1971

Dortu, M.G. Toulouse-Lautrec et son oeuvre. 6 vols. New York, 1971:III:P627, repro.

1991

Gingold, Diane J. and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 109, color repro.

1991

Stevenson, Lesley. H. de Toulouse Lautrec. London, 1991:repro. p. 84

1992

Milner, Frank. Toulouse-Lautrec. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1992: 132.

1997

Tamura, Ryuichi. Lautrec Story, Japan, 1997, p. 26, repro.

2004

Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 394-395, no. 329, color repro.

2008

Dixon, Annette, et al. The Dancer: Degas, Forain, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Exh. cat. Portland (Oregon) Museum of Art. Portland, 2008: 171 fig. 16.

2013

Harris, Neil. Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago and London, 2013: 421.

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