Yvette Guilbert
Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901)
Publisher: L'estampe originale, Paris, 1894
Printer: lithographs: Edw. Ancourt, Paris; text: Frémont, Arcis-sur-Aube
Author: Gustave Geffroy (French, 1856-1926)
Date: 1894
Dimensions:
Book: H: 16 1/8 in. (410 mm); W: 15 1/2 in. (394 mm); Depth: 1/4 in. (7 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 15 3/16 in. (385 mm); W: 15 3/16 in. (385 mm).
Medium: Original prints: 17 lithographs in olive and black (incl. cover).
Text: letterpress in olive with black.
Paper: Arches cream laid paper, watermarked.
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss
Object number: 1984.1135
Label Text:Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Yvette Guilbert. Text by Gustave Geffroy (1894)
By 1894 the famous French cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert had become something of an obsession for artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He was sketching her more than any other person. When she asked why, Toulouse-Lautrec replied, “Because you amuse me. You inspire me—with your extreme distinction in face, the vinegar of your smile, the grain of pepper in your little eye and the astonishing inventiveness of your costume.” While boating with the artist and the singer, the critic Gustave Geffroy suggested doing a book on Guilbert—combining his essay with Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographs. The artist took up the project enthusiastically. The result was a great commercial and artistic success.
Geffroy’s text, rather than being an exploration of Yvette Guilbert herself, takes her as a departure point for an exploration of her audience. The text is a socialist essay on the numbing life of the working class Parisian: “Why then, in all conscience, should this man not go to the café-concert? It is the only door that is open to him, the only house that receives him hospitably.”
The book had a bold design, with an unusual square format, an olive green color for both lithographs and type, and the overlapping of image and text. It was immediately recognized as something new and important: “…it will without a doubt mark a step in the history of publishing.” (Le Figaro)
By 1894 the famous French cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert had become something of an obsession for artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He was sketching her more than any other person. When she asked why, Toulouse-Lautrec replied, “Because you amuse me. You inspire me—with your extreme distinction in face, the vinegar of your smile, the grain of pepper in your little eye and the astonishing inventiveness of your costume.” While boating with the artist and the singer, the critic Gustave Geffroy suggested doing a book on Guilbert—combining his essay with Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographs. The artist took up the project enthusiastically. The result was a great commercial and artistic success.
Geffroy’s text, rather than being an exploration of Yvette Guilbert herself, takes her as a departure point for an exploration of her audience. The text is a socialist essay on the numbing life of the working class Parisian: “Why then, in all conscience, should this man not go to the café-concert? It is the only door that is open to him, the only house that receives him hospitably.”
The book had a bold design, with an unusual square format, an olive green color for both lithographs and type, and the overlapping of image and text. It was immediately recognized as something new and important: “…it will without a doubt mark a step in the history of publishing.” (Le Figaro)
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In Collection(s)