Lender de dos, Dansant le Bolero Dans Chilperic

1895

15 1/8 x 19 3/4 in /
38.1 x 48.3 cm

Single edition of 50 impressions
Printed in olive-green on wove paper
Numbered by Kleinmann in pencil on the lower left
Red monogram stamp in lower right (fewer than 25 impressions have this)
Printed by Ancourt (H. Stern)
Distributed by Kleinmann, his blindstamp pressed in the lower left (fewer than 25 impressions have this)
17 in public collections
RARE

The main attraction in Chilpéric was the bolero, danced by Marcelle Lender as Galaswintha in the court of King Chilpéric. It was not so much the flimsy plot of this medieval farce as the actress, who had been appearing mainly at the Théâtre des Variétés on the Boulevard Montmartre since 1889, who led Lautrec to sit through the operetta nearly twenty times. Always watching from the same angle, from one of the first tiers on the left, he would lie in wait with his sketch pad. His companion, Romain Coolus, finally went on strike after seeing the operetta so many times, and demanded to know the reason for such unusual persistence. Lautrec maintained that he was only interested in Lender's entrancing back, which was on full display during this scene: ‘Look at it carefully. It's rare that you see anything so magnificent. Lender's back is a feast.' Although Lautrec did many lithographs of Lender, this is the only one featuring her back which he so admired.

References: Wittrock 105, Adriani 111, Frey 357