Page:Picture Posters.djvu/86

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66
PICURE POSTERS.

tulip. Once having seen this work, the name, and indeed something of the personality, of Jane Avril is impressed on ones mind. Moreover, one easily recalls this unassuming poster vividly, when works of art, consecrated by the admiration of generations of critics, are quite forgotten, or only faintly remembered. No man of more passionate and curious talent than Aristide Bruant has ever devoted himself to the business of light amusement, and it was no doubt quite congenial to Lautrec to advertise the performances which he gives in his cabaret. Again, the artist's picture of another entertainer, Caudieux, represented in the act of quitting the stage, is masterly for its indication of movement and its powerful characterization. Bad from the advertisers point of view, but most interesting from that of the collector, is the extremely rare "Le rendu," a production which for weird and intense tragedy compares to advantage with any of the artist's posters. Scarcely less rare, though by no means so important, is the affiche done to advertise the performances of La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge. A far more agreeable design is the "Divan Japonais," in which a fearful and wonderful girl, accompanied by a man as fashionable as he seems to be imbecile, is represented under the spell of Yvette Guilbert, whose tall, thin figure is seen across the orchestra, her arms, in the famous black gloves, being