Poster, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ambassadeurs / Aristide Bruant, Paris, 1892

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Ambassadeurs / Aristide Bruant vintage poster 1892 57.25 h x 38.5 w in (145 x 98 cm) "The Montmartre chansonnier turned restaurateur, Aristide Bruant, was a strong, imposing personality, and in the several posters of him Toulouse-Lautrec conveys this by letting him dominate the picture completely, with virtually nothing else to distract our attention, and with Bruant's characteristic red scarf, hat, and walking stick adding impact to the image...

This design was seen by Bruant as a masterpiece, but the manager of the Ambassadeurs rejected it as too brutally frank and unflattering; the only way the performer could get it accepted was by warning the manager that he would not appear on stage unless there was a copy on either side of the proscenium, and unless the whole of Paris was plastered with further copies" (Wine Spectator, 46). The same image would be recycled by Lautrec two years later when Bruant appeared at the Eldorado (see PAI-LXXXVII, 480). Imp. Edw. Ancourt, Paris Literature: Wittrock, P4; Adriani, 3; Reims, 773; Wine Spectator, 46; Wagner, 5; PAI-LXXXVII, 479 This work will ship from Chicago, Illinois.