22 Miss Loïe Fuller. 1893. Lithograph. 280 x... Lot 22

22 Miss Loïe Fuller. 1893. Lithograph. [280 x 380]. Delteil 39; Wittrock 17. Printed in colors. Very fine and fresh proof on cream glazed vellum, the yellow, pink and lavender blue veil, with gilt bronze ink highlights, no margins at head and left. Stone marks very visible in the other margins. Rare: edition of about 60 proofs. A. Marty ed. (without the original edition mount). 30 000 - 35 000 € Slight oblique fold in the lower right corner of the sheet. Remainder of the mounting mitre along the right edge on the reverse. The additional stone of the background is here drawn in gilt bronze. Lautrec himself is said to have assisted the printer in obtaining subtle effects by brushing the surface with a cotton swab and gilt bronze powder. On the freshly printed proofs, still wet, the effect produced is close to watercolour. "This lithograph, which gave rise to proofs of different and varied appearance, was printed in black only; it was then that, on the freshly printed proofs, Lautrec took care to colour them, using a cotton wool pad, and then sprinkling them lastly with gold powder, to complete the effect. It is to our friend André Marty, editor of the play, that we owe this interesting information..." (Delteil). Antony Griffiths considers that "five stones were used, and they were inked with a great variety of different colours. One stone (the fourth) was inked with a rainbow of colours (a process known to printers as 'iris printing'). The fifth stone received a neutral colour and, while the ink was still wet, Lautrec or Stern brushed it with a bag containing gold or silver powder, creating an iridescent watercolour effect. As a result, no two prints were alike, and this uniqueness was accentuated by a specially printed mount that framed the image. This plate remains unique in Lautrec's work and he never followed up on the many possibilities it offered. "(Antony Griffiths, "The Prints of Toulouse-Lautrec," in Wittrock, vol. 1, p. 41). "To fit into the [original] mount, the sheet had to be trimmed in the right or left margin. As only ten reduced leaves are known, it seems that this plate was not successful when it was published. "(Wittrock). Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) was an American dancer who became famous for her choreography in which she twirled loose veils of light fabric. Her Serpentine Dance premiered at the Park Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, on February 15, 1892, and was a huge success. The dancer then came to Paris where she was hired by the Folies Bergère and aroused the admiration and infatuation of the symbolist artists. She revolutionized stage performance by her innovative use of light: spinning on a square of glass lit from below, showered by the beams of dozens of side lights, sometimes augmented by sets of mirrors that multiplied her moving image ad infinitum, she gave a new meaning to the stage space.