Demimonde: The Floating World and Toulouse-Lautrec

Those living in or near New York City or otherwise passing through New York City this spring may be interested in a exhibition at the Ronin Gallery called "Demimonde: The Floating World of Toulouse-Lautrec.  The exhibition displays 24 lithographs and etchings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and pairs them with more than two dozen ukiyo-e prints and paintings by the likes of Utamaro, Harunobu, Sharaku, Hokusai, and Shunko.  Some of the connections made relate to Lautrec's appropriation of certain Japanese art conventions.  In other cases, thematic or stylistic parallels are drawn as Lautrec's denizens from fin-de-siècle Parisian nightlife are juxtaposed against figures from the Floating World.

May Belfort (1895) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec  Courtesy of Ronin Gallery  (lithograph)

Tamaya at Kameido (c. 1826) by Utagawa Kunisada Courtesy of Ronin Gallery (woodblock print)

For example, as Ronin's catalog relates, "[i]n the tour poster for the Irish-born singer May Milton, Lautrec echoes the curving lines and integrated text of Kunisada's Tamaya at Kameido.  Each artist delineates his standing beauty through the flat color planes of her clothing, vibrant and graphic against the natural tone of the paper.  Lautrec echoes the small pink lips of Kunisada's courtesan in Belfort's rounded pout.  Belfort was well known for her signature black cat and oversized baby's bonnet, which Lautrec portrays with a geometric quality reminiscent of a courtesan's coiffure."

May Milton (1895) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec  Courtesy of Ronin Gallery  (lithograph)

Courtesan Segawa from the House of Matsubaya (c. 1802) by Kitagawa Utamaro Courtesy of Ronin Gallery (woodblock print)

At first blush, one could say that such parallels were entirely coincidental, especially since one would expect Belfort to be depicted in her signature bonnet.  But when one examines Lautrec's companion poster for May Milton (Belfort's lover), it becomes clear that the placement of the "lt" letters of Milton's name relative to her head was anything but coincidental.  Just as Utamaro has his geisha gazing left with the layers of her kimono fanning out, so too Lautrec's dancer similarly gazes left while her voluminous skirt swirls around her.  Even Milton's foot appears slightly raised off the ground, mimicking Utamaro's attendant with her lifted geta sandal.  The overall effect is to evoke Utamaro's balance of static and action.

Boats Alongside Billingsgate, London (1859) by James Whistler  Courtesy of Ronin Gallery  (etching)

Full Moon over Takanawa (c. 1845) by Ando Hiroshige Courtesy of Ronin Gallery (woodblock print)

In addition to the pieces by Lautrec, Ronin's exhibition also features a number of additional Japonisme prints by Mary Cassat, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Édouard Vuillad, Pierre Bonnard,  James Tissot, and James Whistler.  Whistler's debt to Hiroshige in his Boats Alongside Billingsgate, London etching is palpable.

While there is no substitute for viewing the prints full-size and in person, Ronin's entire exhibition is on-line and can be viewed (for the time being, at least), here.  Viewers can click on a bar under each print pairing to reveal a discussion of how each print is related to the other.  The exhibition itself continues at Ronin's gallery through April 30, 2016.

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