Henri DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901) [FRANCE] - Lot 4

Henri DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901) [FRANCE] Portrait of L'Amiral Viaud, 1901 Artist's monogram upper left. Wash and blue ink on fanfold paper 21x 64 cm Provenance: Versailles, Hôtel Rameau -Versailles sale, Hôtel Rameau, February 17, 1963, no. 59, unsold. -Marie-Antoinette PERNET, wife of Chansarel. -Her descendants include Bibliography: Toulouse-Lautrec et son Oeuvre, Dortu (M. G.) Toulouse-Lautrec (Henri de), New-York Collectors Editions, 1971, Volume IV, reproduced under no. D 4.702, p.916-917. In 1899, the painter's family entrusted Paul Viaud with the task of looking after Henri, who had become an absinthe-addicted alcoholic and had to be confined to a nursing home in Neuilly that same year. For two years, Paul Viaud, 18 years the painter's senior and a ruined shipowner from Bordeaux, accompanied Lautrec on his travels and stays (in Le Crotoy with Joyant, in Montmartre, Bordeaux, Arcachon or Malromé, his last residence). Lautrec and Viaud used to take sea trips around the Arcachon basin, which led to the family nickname of "Admiral Viaud". Lautrec's last unfinished painting Lautrec's last unfinished work at his death was a large decoration depicting Viaud in the guise and costume of an admiral, intended to adorn the mantelpiece of the dining room at Château de Malromé (fig. 1 and f ig. 2). By depicting his companion in a wigged admiral's uniform, camped at the ship's rail, holding a long sight, Lautrec humorously allegorizes the surveillance mission required of him. Malromé's painting, now in the Sao Paulo Museum, is impressively modern, with its expressive, synthesized drawing and large, solid red jacket. Dortu's catalog raisonné lists four drawings considered preparatory (D. 4563, 4664, 4700, 4702). The last of these is our fan, a gift from the artist to Marie-Antoinette Pernet, one of his friends (also a friend of Claude Debussy), which has remained in the family to this day. Admire the synthesis of the drawing, reminiscent of his work as a poster artist, summarizing in a few strokes the admiral and his costume, the steamships in the distance and the blue watercolor curves suggesting the sea horizon... The Impressionist fan. The fan was an indispensable accessory in Japanese fashion, and featured in many female portraits of the 1870s/1880s (Portrait de Mme Claude Monet en habit japonais,1876). But painters such as Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin also used the fan as a support. The semi-circular format would transform their compositions into original, unexpected cut-outs, far removed from the traditional layouts also found in Japanese prints.