Aristide Bruant Dans son Cabaret

1893

37 1/4 x 53 3/8 in /
94.0 x 134.6 cm

Key stone printed in olive-green, color stones in black, red and brown
First printing with later overprinting without text at bottom, but with "Chansonnier de Montmartre" at upper left
New variant
Commissioned by Aristide Bruant
Printed by Imp. Charles Verneau, Paris
EXCEPTIONALLY RARE

This is the rarest state of this poster, being mentioned only by Adhemar (his third state). As with the first state, it is also printed by Verneau (other states having been the work of Ancourt). It advertises a bi-monthly review of "Singers of Montmartre." And no singer of that place or time was better known that Bruant, a strong, forceful, in many ways vulgar entertainer of intimate cabarets-the kind of places where fashionable society went "slumming" for their thrills. Lautrec catches this brutal quality of the performer and the disdain with which he treated his audiences by having him show us the broad of his back, with the red scarf forming an exclamation point. The pose itself thus makes a complete, self-contained statement.

References: Wittrock P9, Adriani 12, Adhemar 15