Revue Blanche 1897

Curator: Oh, my word, she’s striking. Utterly confident and chic. Like she knows a secret… and probably invented it. Editor: Indeed. What strikes me immediately is the subtle tension in Toulouse-Lautrec's “Revue Blanche,” a lithograph dating back to 1897. It's a stunning advertisement poster that captures a woman who embodies the artistic and literary journal of the same name. Curator: Advertisement? Seriously? Well, it is advertising an idea of refined society. Look at how Toulouse-Lautrec uses line and color. The silhouette is everything, from the enormous feather to that fabulous fur. The dress... It hints at modernity with that bold splash of blue against a speckled ground, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Absolutely, that is one reading, but the modernity exists precisely in the rendering itself. The use of lithography is an interesting commentary on this new world of printing. It is able to capture both a high level of detail while, through a flattened perspective and asymmetrical design, speaks to broader design trends in posters at this time. There's also a clever distribution of chromatic value here that I find deeply appealing. Curator: Value and chromatic...technical talk. I get it. I’m drawn to the fact that the piece doesn’t seem to worry about convention. Lautrec seems intent on making this figure stand out…almost defiantly so. You look at this lady and think “Wow, that’s ART” She’s announcing a concept not simply just trying to sell something! Editor: I concur that there's definitely a playful aspect to the construction. It's something you find recurring throughout Lautrec’s oeuvre in fact. Though some see merely a reflection of Parisian society, I believe he uses artifice to comment on representation itself. Curator: Okay, maybe! I find that I fall in love more with the confidence. Perhaps both are necessary. Thanks to both those perspectives I really enjoyed digging deeper into “La Revue Blanche.” Editor: Indeed, it's rewarding to look carefully. Let's hope our listeners also found something new in this remarkable lithograph.