Reine de Joie (1892, Met-Objekt 951)
Original title: Reine de Joie
kurzbeschreibung
Unlike Toulouse-Lautrec's other posters from those years, Reine de Joie thrives on reduction: the 1892 colour lithograph reproduces the motif of an advertising sheet for Victor Joze's novel, but now in a smaller format. What appears is an intimate encounter between a man and a woman, rendered in bold, luminous tones.
Description
In the foreground two people kiss: a burly man in a black shirt and a woman with a red top and short black hair, leaning towards him with force. Behind them, in profile, a third figure appears, wearing a black top and with orange hair, one hand at the neck. Yellow, red and black define the high-contrast palette. The layout is unevenly distributed: the two main figures fill the front plane, while the rear area remains sparse and little worked out.
Context
The poster was made in 1892 to advertise Victor Joze's novel Reine de Joie. Lithographed posters for literature and entertainment venues were part of everyday life in the city, in the middle of the Parisian Belle Époque. The reduced edition is thought to have been intended as a collector's piece or for private use.
Impact
Because the figures come so close to each other and the colours are so loud, the sheet feels immediate and challenging. The smaller scale heightens the intimacy of the moment, and the contrast of red and black lends it something dramatic.
Technique
For the colour lithograph, an existing poster was reduced in scale. Printing was done using several colour plates that bring out the light tones; this reveals Toulouse-Lautrec's typical working method with large areas of colour and strong outlines.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)