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TITLE:
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Misere a Londres (3 Original Drawings)
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WORK DATE:
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1888
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CATEGORY:
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Works on Paper (Drawings, Watercolors etc.)
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MATERIALS:
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Pencil on paper
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MARKINGS:
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Red monogram stamp at bottom right on each
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SIZE:
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h: 5.2 x w: 7 in / h: 13.2 x w: 17.8 cm
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STYLE:
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Post-Impressionism
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PRICE*:
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Contact Gallery for Price
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DESCRIPTION:
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Brutal and disturbing. These are but two of the words that immediately leap to mind upon seeing this Lautrec triptych appropriately titled "Wretched London." However, these drawings are much more than twisted erotica-they serve as vital historical commentary and documentation of the real ‘misere' in London occurring at the time of their 1888 execution. Without context, these three drawings are little more than alarming pedophilic scenes. With historical conditions attached, however, the sordid narrative places a population driven to unacceptable extremes by crushing poverty directly into stark focus. During this period, London saw a massive influx of Irish immigrants and Jewish refugees escaping the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and Eastern Europe. London-particularly the East End and the parish of Whitechapel-became increasingly overcrowded, which resulted in the development of a massive economic underclass. Prostitution became a prominent feature of the endemic poverty.
Lautrec's unsettling images serve more as evidence rather than as indictment of that specific situation, intense reminders of the extremes to which survivors will succumb in order to eek out a meager existence. Incidentally, the year of this artwork's creation coincides with the horrific murders committed by Jack the Ripper. Misery upon misery appears to have been the norm in 1888 London rather than the exception.
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PROVENANCE:
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Maurice Guilbert, Mr. Galanti, The Schimmel Collection, NY
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LITERATURE:
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Dortu Vol. VI, p. 942-943; Joyant Vol. II, p. 192
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