Reine de Joie (Three Color Trial Proof)

1892

37 3/8 x 54 5/8 in /
94.0 x 137.2 cm

Trial proof
Three of four color stones used, without olive-green key stone
Printed by Ancourt on wove paper
Commissioned by Victor Joze
25 in public collections
UNIQUE

The poster advertising Victor Joze's book Reine de Joie/Moeurs du Demi-Monde (Queen of Joy, or, The World of Easy Virtue) must have appeared at about the same time as the two Bruant posters. Joze, a hack Polish writer or low-quality erotic novels and a friend of Lautrec, who designed two more lithographs for him in later years, had commissioned this color poster. On June 4, 1892, the erotic periodical Le Fin de Siecle, wherein Joze was an editor, reported the appearance of the highly individual composition, which was then also used at a reduced size as the title page for Joze's book.

References: Wittrock P3, Adriani 5, Frey 304