Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ancourt
A Bust of Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender
1894
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ancourt
A Bust of Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender
1894
Physical Qualities
Color tusche, crayon, and spatter lithograph, Sheet: 324 x 241 mm. (12 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.)
Image: 326 x 243 mm. (12 13/16 x 9 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.12.448
This avant-garde female celebrity appeared on the stages, at the café-concerts, and in the nightclubs of late 19th-century Paris. Decadence, vulgarity, and cross-dressing were their performance hallmarks. Many emphasized their sexuality, whether straight or queer, to impress audiences.
Marcelle Lender was a celebrated dancer who wore such extravagant makeup that a contemporary observer noted “that one no longer knows which is nose and which is eye;
only flash of color, tulle, smile, shout, freedom…” Cha-UKao, whose stage name combined the words for the can-can dance (chahut) and “chaos,” was an acrobat, sex worker, and outspoken lesbian. Her clown costumes purposefully blurred the line between men and women’s clothing. The actress Gabrielle Réjane, celebrated for her suggestive wit and vulgar spontaneity, is shown jauntily dressed in traditional middleclass
male clothing, including a top hat and cravat. Yvette Guilbert was known for wearing black gloves and low-cut gowns that exaggerated her lanky, flat-chested physique. She delighted audiences in cabarets and café-concerts with her unabashed flirting and raunchy lyrics.
Toulouse-Lautrec: Master of the Moulin Rouge
Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest
Inscribed: Monogram, u/r