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l'Artisan Moderne

Poster
1894 (Designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This poster purports to advertise the wares of the designer André Marty, who sold decorative objects for the interior at various locations throughout Paris. Toulouse-Lautrec's poster, however, bears little relevance to the business it advertises, choosing instead to entertain viewers by presenting them with a titillating image.

In a parody of the stock vignette 'the doctor's visit', an artisan arrives at a client's house and is shown by the maid to her mistress's bedroom, seemingly to perform an examination, equipped with a toolbox rather than a doctor's medicine bag. The client, who is prostrate in bed dressed in a transparent negligée, passively awaits his attentions. The maid's expression of distress, the little dog's raised tail and the ruddiness of the artisan's complexion all serve to indicate the licentious nature of the visit.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titlel'Artisan Moderne (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph
Brief description
Poster for 'L'Artisan Moderne. Objects d'art, meubles, ensembles decoratifs' by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1895. French.
Physical description
Poster depicting a woman sitting up in bed with a dog in her lap. Her maid is in attendance and announces the arrival of an artisan who enters carrying a toolbox and hammer. The poster advertises 'L'Artisan modern' created by André Marty for his collection of 'objects usuels' and 'bijoux artistiques' for sale in ten Paris shops, the addresses of which are lettered at the bottom of the poster.
Dimensions
  • Height: 93.5cm
  • Width: 65cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'qui?' (Bottom of interrogation mark has been turned into a hot air balloon. Upper right.)
  • 'IMP. BOURGERIE & CIE. 83, Fg St Venis, PARIS' (The printing works. Along lower left-hand side.)
  • 'l'Artisan moderne, objets d'art, meubles, ensembles décoratifs' (Lower centre.)
  • 9 Quai Voltaire; 12 rue Bonaparte; 39 bis. rue de Châteaudun; 25 galerie Vivienne; 1. Boulevard Capucine; 20 rue Lafitte; 8, rue de la Victoire; 7 rue Racine; 18, rue Saint-Lazare; 19, rue Caumartin' (Lower centre.)
  • 'THL' (Artist's monogram, contained in an elephant. Lower right.)
  • 'THL' (Artist's monogram. Appears on side of tool box.)
  • 'Niederkorn' (Appears on the side of the toolbox.)
Subjects depicted
Summary
This poster purports to advertise the wares of the designer André Marty, who sold decorative objects for the interior at various locations throughout Paris. Toulouse-Lautrec's poster, however, bears little relevance to the business it advertises, choosing instead to entertain viewers by presenting them with a titillating image.

In a parody of the stock vignette 'the doctor's visit', an artisan arrives at a client's house and is shown by the maid to her mistress's bedroom, seemingly to perform an examination, equipped with a toolbox rather than a doctor's medicine bag. The client, who is prostrate in bed dressed in a transparent negligée, passively awaits his attentions. The maid's expression of distress, the little dog's raised tail and the ruddiness of the artisan's complexion all serve to indicate the licentious nature of the visit.
Associated object
E.126-1942 (Duplicate)
Bibliographic references
  • Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1950
  • The following excerpt is by Nora Desloge, Toulouse-Lautrec, The Baldwin M. Baldwin Collection, San Diego Museum of Art, 1988, p. 246: 'Toulouse-Lautrec included his own monogram and the name of the artist who designed the poster's text (Niederkorn) on the toolbox, and portrayed his friend, the Belgian jeweler and medallist Henri Nocq, as the visiting artisan.'
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.205-1950

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Record createdJanuary 16, 2008
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