notes:

Toulouse-Lautrec shows Jane Avril on stage doing her speciality, which according to contemporaries, was essentially a cancan that she made exotic by making a pretense of prudery, the 'depraved virgin' image at arousing the prurience in the predominantly male audience. The sexual innuendo was captured by the artist by contrasting the dancer's slender legs with the robust, phallic neck of the bass viol in the foreground. A masterly stroke that not only heightens our perception but also creates as unusual perspective. We see the performer as an orchestra member would. And this allows Toulouse-Lautrec to show, as if inadvertently, how tired and somewhat downcast she looks close-up, not at all in keeping with the gaiety of the dance that is perceived by the audience. It is clear that she is dancing entirely for the viewers pleasure, not hers, which makes it a highly poignant image. Seemingly without trying, Toulouse-Lautrec not only creates a great poster but makes a personal statement. Only a person who really cares about his subject as a human being would portray her with such startling candour "

- bill 3-05-2011 5:19 pm [add a comment]