Jane Avril-Jardin de Paris

1893

35 1/4 x 49 1/8 in /
88.9 x 124.5 cm

Key stone printed in olive-green, color stones in yellow, orange, red and black on one sheet of wove paper
Nine in public collections
Printed by Chaix
Commissioned by the Jardin de Paris
Distributed by Kleinmann
Provenance: Warner Le Roy Collection from Maxwell's Plums
RARE

This poster, deposited in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris on 8 May, was used to advertise Jane Avril's appearance-much celebrated in the press-at the Jardin de Paris, a new café concert on the Champs Elysees. In a letter to Andre Marty of 2 June 1893, the artist remarked that his poster would appear next day. With the approval of the management, Jane Avril had commissioned the poster from Lautrec, whose work she greatly admired. Apart from Bruant, she was the only one with sufficient faith in his powers of invention to set him to work on her publicity. On 25 June 1893, Lautrec wrote to Firmin Javal, editor of the periodical L'Art Francais: ‘I received a request from M. Roques, editor of the Courrier Francais, asking me for permission to reproduce my Jane Avril poster. As you are the first one I authorized to make this reproduction, I have let him know he should come to an agreement with you to the end that your copies will come out simultaneously, so as not to make the thing stale. This letter gives you full power so that if the Courrier should pull a fast one on you, we would be able to give the editor a rap on the knuckles, you, I and Kleinmann [Edouard Kleinmann, of 8 Rue de la Victoire, published and stored graphics by Lautrec from 1893 to 1896]' (Goldschmidt-Schimmel, No. 161; cf. also letter No. 175). In fact, the reproduction in the Courrier Francais appeared on 2 July 1893, while L'Art Francais did not publish its own version until 29 July.

References: Wittrock P6, Adriani 11