Feature: The Big Picture - Exhibition - Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge at The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House until September 18
NICKNAMED La Mélinite after a powerful form of explosive, the dancer Jane Avril was one of the stars of the Moulin Rouge in 1890s Paris. Known for her alluring style and exotic persona, her fame was assured by a series of dazzlingly inventive posters designed by the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Jane Avril (1868-1943) became an emblematic figure in Toulouse-Lautrec’s world of dancers, cabaret singers, musicians and prostitutes. But she was also a close friend of the artist and he painted a series of striking portraits of her which contrast starkly with his exuberant posters.
The Courtauld Gallery’s current exhibition Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge brings together a rich group of paintings, posters and prints from international collections to celebrate a remarkable creative partnership which captured the excitement and spectacle of bohemian Paris.
In contrast to Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), who was a member of one of France’s oldest noble families, Jane Avril was the daughter of a courtesan. Born Jeanne Beaudon, she suffered an abusive childhood and, aged 13, ran away from home. The following year she entered the formidable Salpêtrière hospital in Paris to be treated for a nervous disorder popularly known as St Vitus’ Dance.
It was at one of the bal des folles, the fancy dress balls which the hospital organised for its patients, that she took her first dance steps and found both her cure and her vocation.
New research for this exhibition examines the connections between her eccentric movements, described by one observer as an “orchid in a frenzy”, and contemporary medical theories of female hysteria. Her experiences helped shape her public persona and, as a performer, she was not only known as La Mélinite but also as L’Etrange (the Strange One) and Jane La Folle (Crazy Jane).
At the age of 20 she was taken on by the Moulin Rouge as a professional dancer. Adopting the stage name Jane Avril (suggested to her by an English lover), she was determined to make her mark as a star in the flourishing world of the Montmartre dance-halls and cabarets.
Combining sensuality and ethereal detachment, Jane Avril’s remarkable performances captured the imagination of artists and writers alike. Lautrec’s friend, Paul Leclercq, described the scene: “In the midst of the crowd, there was a stir, and a line of people started to form: Jane Avril was dancing, twirling, gracefully, lightly, a little madly; pale, skinny, thoroughbred, she twirled and reversed, weightless, fed on flowers; Lautrec was shouting out his admiration.”
Jane Avril became the subject of some of Lautrec’s greatest posters, landmarks in the history of both art and advertising. One of the first, pictured here, was made to promote Avril’s appearance at the Jardin de Paris, to which a special bus ran every night after the Moulin Rouge closed at 11. This dramatic poster shows Jane Avril in the provocative high kick of the cancan, framed by the hand of a musician grasping the neck of a double-bass.
• Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge is at The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, WC2, until September 18, open daily 10am-6pm, last admission 5.30pm, Admission included in admission to permanent collection: adults £6, concessions £4.50, 020 7848 2526, www.courtauld.ac.uk
Lates: The gallery is open until 9pm on July 28 and September 15. Lates include the exhibition and collection and a varied programme of events, including live music, dance, talks and tours and French food in The Courtauld Gallery Café.
Published: 21 July, 2011