This recent exhibition in the Courtauld Gallery focuses on the relationship between Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his model, Jane Avril. Bringing together works from such varied collections as the Biblioteque National de France, the V&A, and MOMA, it highlights Lautrec’s interpretation of Avril and contrasts it to his depiction of other performers from the Moulin Rouge as well as to other artists’ interpretations of Avril. In doing so, the exhibition provides illuminating insights into the Belle-Epoque’s fascination with the demi-monde, mental and physical disability, and artistic originality.

The first room concentrates on the body of work that Lautrec created around Avril, enough to show their relationship as one of mutual gain. Their ‘partnership’ evokes, perhaps inevitably, that of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick – another coupling of two perennial outsiders. The works range from promotional lithographs that depict Avril the dancer, a muddle of gangly black limbs and white petticoats, to paintings of her outside the Moulin Rouge –– private and elegant in voluminous coats buttoned up to the chin. In every instance, however, Lautrec portrays the same iconic face: detached, quizzical and luminescent, therein instantly recognisable.

The second room of the exhibition gathers together depictions of Avril by other artists, including lithographs, face casts in bronze and plaster, and photographs. In every work other than Lautrec’s, Avril seems more ordinary, more conventional. The extent to which Lautrec created a mask for Avril is highlighted by these comparisons, as is his capture of something in the dancer that no one else managed to extract.

Although Lautrec’s iconic Avril brought fame to both artist and model, it did not necessarily reflect the real woman behind the long legs. In the central work in the exhibition, the Art Institute of Chicago’s At the Moulin Rouge, we see Avril only from the back – recognisable by her flaming orange hair – and Lautrec himself only in profile – his short stature emphasised by that of his tall companion as they walk past Avril’s table. Each is enigmatic, each is emblematic: the artist and his muse.

Until Sep 18

Isabel Millman