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Jane Avril in Jardin de Paris poster
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec • Painting, 1893, 125×92 cm
Description of the artwork «Jane Avril in Jardin de Paris poster»
Toulouse-Lautrec revolutionized the world of advertising by creating nightclub posters with real artists rather than generalized characters. It would be tempting to say that "he made Jane Avril famous," but she didn't. She was so successful in her own right that she might well have made him famous by letting him use her image. Either way, it was an equal partnership between two talented people.
It seems that Toulouse-Lautrec and the dancer Jane Avril met and became friends at the Moulin Rouge. He came from an aristocratic family, and she was the illegitimate daughter of a society lady and an Italian nobleman. As a teenager, Jeanne Baudonne (an exotic "English" pseudonym Jane Avril she took later) escaped her mother's beatings and ended up in the hospital with the "St. Vitus dance. This is a disorder that causes disorderly, jerky, and irregular movements, often resembling a dance. A few years later, the girl claimed to be "cured" when she discovered her talent for dancing and quickly made her way to the most popular stages of Montmartre.
Jane ended up at the Moulin Rouge after the cabaret's "star" left La Gulu - a vulgar but charismatic dancer famous for her frenzied cancan, insatiable appetite for life and booze. Completely unlike her, Avril intrigued the audience. Her characteristic twitches combined with her delicate, graceful physique created a hypnotic effect, and fans described her as "an orchid in a fit of madness. Because of this hysterical, volatile sensuality, she was also given the nicknames "Crazy Jane" and "Melanite" (an explosive used in gunpowder). Her talent was so unique that she is said to have been the only cancan dancer in Paris allowed to wear colored petticoats.
Avril commissioned this lithograph to promote her performance in the Paris Garden Cabaret in 1893. Lautrec created a bold composition with radically distorted perspective, strict framing, flat shapes and sinuous lines. Jane's raised leg, one of her "signature" dance movements, is formally supported by the fingerboard of a double bass held by an unseen musician. There is a promotional photograph of the dancer in the same costume and pose, but it is difficult to say whether Lautrec was inspired by this image or whether it was taken following the poster.
To create this print, the artist used four colors - inky black, methyl orange, yellow, and green. And to convey the easily recognizable "brand" of the dancer, he emphasized her unique attributes - a slender, airy figure and bright red hair.
This was a new approach. Previous poster artists such as Jules Schererthe artists, who were usually created with a set of stereotypical figures, such as a "typical" dancer, singer or acrobat, were then used in various commissions. Toulouse-Lautrec instead used his talent as an observer, highlighting the characteristics of each performer that distinguished him from his competitors. This individualism helped reinforce the "culture of stars" that was broadening in Montmartre - in the artist's depictions each was a distinct personality that attracted admirers.
Lautrec also used celebrities in advertising for other goods and services. He realized that consumers would be influenced by the choice of their favorite singers and dancers. Thus, he resorted to the image of Jane Avril in the promotion of the Divan Japonais Club и l'Estampe originale. In the latter case, he portrayed her as a fashionable cosmopolitan, collecting prints.
Behind the scenes, Jane had no luck in love. She had a series of affairs with writers and artists, leading to an illegitimate son, a disastrous marriage and financial ruin. She died penniless in a nursing home during the Nazi occupation, far from the "golden" Paris of her youth.
Her image was recreated by Ja Ja Gabor in the 1952 film Moulin Rouge. The character of Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film has some connection with Jane Avril. We recommend seeing both films, just don't take the latter as historical truth.
Author: Vlad Maslov
It seems that Toulouse-Lautrec and the dancer Jane Avril met and became friends at the Moulin Rouge. He came from an aristocratic family, and she was the illegitimate daughter of a society lady and an Italian nobleman. As a teenager, Jeanne Baudonne (an exotic "English" pseudonym Jane Avril she took later) escaped her mother's beatings and ended up in the hospital with the "St. Vitus dance. This is a disorder that causes disorderly, jerky, and irregular movements, often resembling a dance. A few years later, the girl claimed to be "cured" when she discovered her talent for dancing and quickly made her way to the most popular stages of Montmartre.
Jane ended up at the Moulin Rouge after the cabaret's "star" left La Gulu - a vulgar but charismatic dancer famous for her frenzied cancan, insatiable appetite for life and booze. Completely unlike her, Avril intrigued the audience. Her characteristic twitches combined with her delicate, graceful physique created a hypnotic effect, and fans described her as "an orchid in a fit of madness. Because of this hysterical, volatile sensuality, she was also given the nicknames "Crazy Jane" and "Melanite" (an explosive used in gunpowder). Her talent was so unique that she is said to have been the only cancan dancer in Paris allowed to wear colored petticoats.
Avril commissioned this lithograph to promote her performance in the Paris Garden Cabaret in 1893. Lautrec created a bold composition with radically distorted perspective, strict framing, flat shapes and sinuous lines. Jane's raised leg, one of her "signature" dance movements, is formally supported by the fingerboard of a double bass held by an unseen musician. There is a promotional photograph of the dancer in the same costume and pose, but it is difficult to say whether Lautrec was inspired by this image or whether it was taken following the poster.
To create this print, the artist used four colors - inky black, methyl orange, yellow, and green. And to convey the easily recognizable "brand" of the dancer, he emphasized her unique attributes - a slender, airy figure and bright red hair.
This was a new approach. Previous poster artists such as Jules Schererthe artists, who were usually created with a set of stereotypical figures, such as a "typical" dancer, singer or acrobat, were then used in various commissions. Toulouse-Lautrec instead used his talent as an observer, highlighting the characteristics of each performer that distinguished him from his competitors. This individualism helped reinforce the "culture of stars" that was broadening in Montmartre - in the artist's depictions each was a distinct personality that attracted admirers.
Lautrec also used celebrities in advertising for other goods and services. He realized that consumers would be influenced by the choice of their favorite singers and dancers. Thus, he resorted to the image of Jane Avril in the promotion of the Divan Japonais Club и l'Estampe originale. In the latter case, he portrayed her as a fashionable cosmopolitan, collecting prints.
Behind the scenes, Jane had no luck in love. She had a series of affairs with writers and artists, leading to an illegitimate son, a disastrous marriage and financial ruin. She died penniless in a nursing home during the Nazi occupation, far from the "golden" Paris of her youth.
Her image was recreated by Ja Ja Gabor in the 1952 film Moulin Rouge. The character of Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film has some connection with Jane Avril. We recommend seeing both films, just don't take the latter as historical truth.
Author: Vlad Maslov
