Toulouse-Lautrec and Modigliani

From: Denver Art Museum
Limited Edition: 7
Exhibition: Denver Art Museum: Come Visit Us
Material: Printed 2-ply vinyl
Dimensions: 30" x 89" (76.2cm x 226.06cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

Summary

French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was at the center of Montmartre night life in Paris in the late 19th century. His images of the Moulin Rouge dance hall define his work, and one work "The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge" from 1892 is featured on the front of these 7 banners. Another modern master highlights the verso of these banners. Amedeo Modigliani's gorgeous 1918 Portrait of a Young Woman captures Modigliani's unique expressionistic style, and speaks of his own Bohemian life in Paris early in the 20th century. With two different modern masterpieces, this banner gives you two ways to express your modern sensibilities.

Description

In the fall of 2006, the Denver Art Museum opened its new Frederic C. Hamilton wing designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. The expansive new building allowed the museum to better display its permanent collection, and banners featuring some of the museum’s great holdings were created.

This banner features two images by renowned modern painters. On one side is L’Anglais au Moulin Rouge (“The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge”) from 1892 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He and his contemporaries produced images that evocatively capture the atmosphere of Montmartre, Paris's center of licit and illicit nightlife. And at the center of Montmartre was the Moulin Rouge dance hall. This image captures the boldness of a top-hatted Englishman on the prowl as he brazenly approaches two women at the club. The women, painted in full-color contrast with the man who is painted simply in a monochromatic grey-brown. His calm and confident expression belies the frenzied atmosphere of the dance hall, and the irritation of the women he propositions. Below the image are yellow and black bands with reversed text that reads ”Come Visit Us/Denver Art Museum”.

The other side of the banner features Amedeo Modigliani’s Portrait of a Woman from 1918. This portrait has a warmth and sensibility that shows the progression of his distinctive style as his works evolved through more stylized and cubist phases. It is a modern masterpiece of portraiture which fulfills Modigliani’s desire to uncover “…not the real and not the unreal but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race.”. Below the image are aqua and black bands with reversed text that reads “Come Visit Us/Denver Art Museum”.

Provenance

These banners were displayed around Denver, Colorado during the summer of 2007 to promote the Denver Art Museum’s Come Visit Us campaign celebrating their permanent collection.