Mademoiselle Lender and Baron 1893

Editor: This is "Mademoiselle Lender and Baron" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, from 1893. It's a drawing, a print, done in dry media like chalk, portraying a man and a woman in a social setting, maybe a performance. It’s mostly pale except for the shading in reddish-brown chalk, but the woman's gaze is so captivating! What symbols do you see playing out here? Curator: Fascinating observation! The baron and the music hall singer, Lender – consider their placement, almost imposed upon one another yet distinct. In imagery, closeness doesn’t always signify intimacy, does it? Look closely at Lender’s upward glance. Does it strike you as admiration or something else? Editor: Maybe resignation? She looks tired, or bored, even though she’s the presumed star of the show. Is her gaze deflecting attention away from the Baron? Curator: Perhaps it reflects the constraints of her role, both professionally and socially. Women in performance inhabited a complex space: adored, objectified, and forever performing. Toulouse-Lautrec captured that beautifully in his rendering of her stylized updo: like stylized feathers in her cap, the plumes denote her profession and performance of feminine gender. Notice how Baron blends into the pale background – is he even *really* there, as her true partner? Editor: That's powerful! I hadn't considered how deeply her posture and even her hair communicated so much about her identity, her time. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure! Remembering such stories held within images connects us, in many ways, to the past.