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Pin-Ups | Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity

"Pin-Ups: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity" will be the first exhibition held at the National Galleries of Scotland devoted to the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901).

Paris in the fin-de-siècle was known as the 'city of pleasure’; famed for its cabarets, dance halls and cafés. Most famous of all were the nightspots of the bohemian district of Montmartre, where Toulouse-Lautrec lived, worked and socialized, including the now legendary café-cabarets Le Moulin Rouge and Le Chat Noir. Pin-Ups: Toulouse Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity will focus on Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographic posters, portfolio prints and illustrations which made stars of Montmartre’s venues and their entertainers - personalities such as Yvette Guilbert, Jane Avril and Aristide Bruant. Toulouse-Lautrec’s career coincided with a revolutionary moment in the history of western printmaking - the development of the poster as a means of mass-marketing – and lithography and poster-making were central to his creative process from his first experiments in the medium in 1891 until his death in 1901.

Around 75 works by Toulouse-Lautrec and his contemporaries will be on show, including prints by Pierre Bonnard, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen and Jules Chéret. British artists were equally attracted to the dynamic café culture of Montmartre and the exhibition will also showcase works by artists such as Walter Sickert, Arthur Melville, JD Fergusson and William Nicholson, among others.

Relevant research areas: Western Europe, 19th Century, Book arts, Lithography
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