Homage to Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec
Robert Rindler, Dean of The Cooper
Union School of Art announced the upcoming
exhibition, Le Nouveau Salon des Cent,
an Homage to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,
featuring 100 posters designed by 100
designers from around the world in commemoration
of the 100th anniversary of the death
of the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The exhibition
opens on September 17 and runs through
November 2 in the Herb Lubalin Study Center of
Design and Typography (East 7th Street
at Third Avenue, 2nd Floor). In addition, Cooper
Union will host "The Toulouse-Lautrec
Legacy" -- a symposium featuring five
internationally-known graphic
designers on October 29 from 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the
Wollman Auditorium.
Toulouse-Lautrec was the master of the
lithographic medium, the father of poster design,
and his works have remained among the
most fascinating and freshly created in the poster
medium for more than a century. His
poster work, which focused on the exuberant nightlife in
Paris' Monmartre district and was
produced during the heyday of Parisian poster printing in
the 1890s, transcended the commercial
realm of advertising. The 100 commemorative
posters in this exhibition reflect the
use of sophisticated techniques, including computer
technology, freehand drawing,
photomontage and typographic composition -- an infinitely
greater range of options than was
available to Toulouse-Lautrec. This contrasts sharply with
his use of a single late-19th century
technology, lithogravure, making his results even more
astonishing.
Le Nouveau Salon des Cent, an Homage
to Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, curated by Philippe
Apeloig, curator of the Lubalin
Center, includes work by two Cooper Union alumni -- Milton
Glaser, creator of the famous "I Love
New York" logo, and Seymour Chwast, a frequent
contributor to The New York Times
Op-Ed page. The exhibition also features work by many
internationally known graphic
designers including Shigeo Fukuda, Alain le Quernec, Uwe
Loesch, Javier Mariscal, Bruno
Monguzzi, Paula Scher, David Tartakover and George
Tscherny.
The symposium, "The Toulouse-Lautrec
Legacy," features some of the designers in the
exhibition, who will discuss the
project, their work and the legacy of Toulouse-Lautrec.
Panelists include Anthon Beeke (The
Netherlands), Seymour Chwast (U.S.), Mieczyslaw
Wasilewski (Poland), Abbott Miller
(U.S) and Rosmarie Tissi (Switzerland). The introductory
speaker is Julia Frey, whose biography
of the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
(Toulouse-Lautrec, A Life, 1994) won
the 1995 Pen Center USA West Literary Award in
nonfiction and has been translated
into four languages.
The exhibition was initiated by the
Dutch designer Anthon Beeke and Michel Escourbiac, a
printer in France, and organized under
the aegis of the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum Partners
Club in Albi. Escourbiac SA, France is
responsible for the printing and lithography for all
posters. Scheufelen North America,
Inc. is sponsoring both the exhibition and the
symposium.
Le Nouveau Salon des Cent, an Homage
to Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
September 17 - November 2, 2002
The Herb Lubalin Study Center of
Design & Typography
East 7th Street at Third Avenue,
Second Floor
11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., Monday through
Friday. Closed Sunday.
"The Toulouse-Lautrec Legacy"
symposium
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Wollman Auditorium
51 Astor Place
Both events are free and open to the
public