The Old Stories (Translation)
Les Vieilles Histoires (Primary Title)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French, 1864 - 1901 (Artist)
The real people who populate Toulouse-Lautrec’s world are well known. Most are outrageous denizens of the demimonde he portrayed in a fiery and sometimes even wild post-impressionist style. Here we see the artist in a calmer mode as he shows a respectable-looking man in a top hat leading a pet bear on a leash along the banks of the Seine. The subject is the musician and composer Désiré Dihau, who was earlier also portrayed by Degas in a painting now in the Musée d’Orsay. Lautrec also later made a lithographic portrait of Dihau that he gave to Degas. The bear stands for the lyricist Goudezki.
Signed with artists monogram in stone lower left
Printed in lower left corner: Tous droits d'exécution, traduction/ et réproduction réservés.
Gift of Frank Raysor
A Celebration of Print: 500 Years of Graphic Art from the Frank Raysor Collection
VMFA, 29 January - 22 May 2011
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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