Cover Design for "Les Vieilles Histoires"

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French

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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.

Cover Design for "Les Vieilles Histoires", Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, Albi 1864–1901 Saint-André-du-Bois), Hand-colored lithograph

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