Footnotes

• This is one of Lautrec's most celebrated images, encapsulating the beauty and pageantry of the Moulin Rouge through one of its famous dancers, Jane Avril. In 1899, Avril asked Lautrec to create a poster to publicize her upcoming act and sent him a photo by Paul Sescau of her wearing a dress with a sequined snake entwined around her torso, to further accentuate her famous serpentine dance moves. The resulting portrait, in dramatic tones of red, yellow, black and blue was made possible through the use of a new experimental printing technique. Henry Stern, the printer, was able to create four colors with only three printings, by applying the colors in the order of the rotation of the machine.
  
  The impression offered here is from the final state, where Lautrec has removed a tiny black snake floating near the bottom of the dress. The colors are fresh and vibrant, comparing favorably with the superb impression in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Wittrock cites 17 in public collections and notes that since the poster was never released for reasons unknown, it is considered uncommon.