Cover Design for "Les Vieilles Histoires"
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French
Not on view
Lautrec designed this cover for a collection of songs composed by Désiré Dihau, a bassoonist and distant cousin of the artist. Dihau appears in the grey suit and top hat leading the poet and lyricist Jean Goudezki, in the guise of a bear, toward the Institut de France in Paris. Their destination, the seat of the French Academy, suggests a tongue-in-cheek attempt to elevate the status of these popular songs. Lautrec produced a second edition of the lithograph printed in five colors similar to those applied with watercolor to this first edition proof.