Le Divan Japonais

Exactly 151 years ago Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, one of the best-known painters of the Post-Impressionist period was born. His immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century yielded a collection of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern and sometimes decadent life of those times. Divan Japonais was one of the many café-concerts in late nineteenth-century Paris frequented by Toulouse-Lautrec. His poster advertising the nightspot features two of his favorite Montmartre stars, Yvette Guilbert and Jane Avril. Here, Avril is a spectator, not a performer, as she sits in the foreground with Édouard Dujardin, a dandyish writer and nightclub habitué. In the upper left corner, on stage, is the headless body of Guilbert, recognizable by her trademark long black gloves and gaunt physique.