A Final Comment on the MAM's Posters of Paris Collection

I: Contemporary Society and Sexuality Meet Front and Center in the Gallery

Aug. 16, 2012

4:06 p.m.

The Milwaukee Art Museum's “Posters of Paris: Toulouse Lautrec and His Contemporaries” exhibition brought a small sampling of French culture to the Midwest for one shining summer. The dazzling posters, tiny or monumental, printed in brilliant colors, metallic inks and hand drawn fonts, created a palpable passion for the French at the turn of the 20th century similar to that passion collectors display for these posters today. During one brief time in history, these posters offered Parisians the perfect opportunity to purchase art and design for the price of an evening's entertainment in the City of Light. Affordable, art worthy and inviting, the posters decorated French interiors as prolifically as they did the Paris streets. MAM's exhibition also raised questions about a women's place on the posters and French society. While censors found one poster decadent because of nude overexposure, the artist reprinted the exact poster without the topless nudity. Which begs the question after the revision, which could be more offensive? Study the two posters, advertisements for a novel by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen named Le Triste des Blanches (1890),  exhibited side by side in the exhibition to decide what should be censored in view of what was on already seen on the streets of Paris. Yet, directly to the right across the gallery on other walls, several posters depict advertisements with rounded, feminine nude figures that were allowed to remain on the streets. Even Toulouse Lautrec immortalized female performers from Paris entertainment places that were considered less than proper, such as The Moulin Rouge. Immortalized women's names as club singers, perhaps disdained in polite society, and certainly one would forget these women over time unless they appeared on the eccentric artist's posters, namely Jane Avril, May Belfort, and May Milton. .<o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> Interesting facts to ponder alongside the modern observations researched in regards to contemporary society: A) Girls as young as six years old would prefer to be considered sexy rather than smart. B) Preteen and teenage girls would prefer to dress “hot” other than be engaged in intellectual pursuits. C) Men and women frequently “objectify” women, assessing them with an eye to specific features or parts instead of seen as a whole person. <o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> This current research presents a distressing picture, combined with literal visual images, that women and their bodies, or various parts of their bodies, sell products when used as objects. Physical attributes to be monetarily or culturally valued over the personal character traits a woman may possess as a gifted, unique individual.<o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> A view of the “Posters of Paris” collection reaffirms these findings, or rather might have fostered them, when bicycles, lamps and oil were advertised by portraying nude women. Albeit the women drawn on these specific posters bore wings to distinguish the creatures as mythological as opposed to realistic females. When wearing only wings, the figures passed the censor laws because they were fictional females based on classical art antiquity instead of an actual female person.<o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> This premise provided the image Déesse (1898), which translates to the English word for goddess, where a nude woman hovers above the crowd holding the bike in her hands, another way to sell their bicycles. Or Cycles Sirius, (1899), where the women actually rides the bicycle nude while touching a bright star. Or Pétrole Stella (1897) where several fairy like women fly into a halo of a star. In Rayon d'Or (1895) a nude fairy woman holds a lamp over her head in the company's honor. Each nude female ascends, floats into these heavenly, varying shades of blue backgrounds on the posters to promote the particular product. Even Alphonse Mucha portrays a nude women painter, or perhaps figure model, in his poster Salon des Cent (1896) to publicize an exhibition.<o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> The consumer or patron than “assesses” the female for her sundry “parts,” lustrous locks of flowing hair, which are frequent in numerous posters, ample bosoms, long legs, protruding or slim torsos. Displaying the female form in this way constantly exists today, scantily clad women preferred in this country over the totally nude. While the French aspire to a more laissez faire attitude toward nudity in general, American's press the sexual identity at a younger age. Through toddlers donning tiny string bikinis or the princess beauty pageants for the pre-school and kindergarten set in 2012, complete with the application of make-up. No wonder little girls clamor to be sexy instead of smart or studious.  A second part to Art Talk Milwaukee discusses how bicycle posters fostered women\'s independence, which will appear on Monday. The Milwaukee Art Museum presents "Posters of Paris: Toulouse Lautrec and His Contemporaries" through September 9. For further information, visit www.mam.org.

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