I started to think about writing a paper about Toulouse-Lautrec for an art history class that was part of my misguided attempt to go to grad school a few years ago, so I was fully prepared to lap this show up, and I did. My first visit was on opening day with Fleagirl and Sophie in an attempt to start to introduce Sophie to high culture. Yes, we were the people I always used to glare at Before Sophie, the ones bringing a toddler into a museum. Now I say, screw the people who glare. Sophie eventually ungrumped enough to point at Steinlen's huge, sexy black cat and a few of the other things she recognized on the walls, then got bored. I glanced around and absorbed what I could and resolved to come back at a later date for more in-depth study.

So Saturday morning I returned with my parents with tow and tried not to hang out too long in front of the more explicit pictures when they were around. The culture that sprung up around the Montmartre cabarets and cafes of Paris in the late nineteenth century was committed to rebelling against the establishment, and you know what that leads to. The exhibit does an excellent job of demonstrating the sense of humor these artists, musicians, and writers had, and you can easily trace a line from their work to the Dadaists and the Surrealists and even modern conceptual artists. A quote from the time almost seems as if it could have been written by Duchamp: "It seems to me that in front of Michelangelo's masterpiece Moses, the true artist of today should say: 'I would like to do something else.'"

The high point of the show is the final room devoted to Toulouse-Lautrec's work. By the time you get there, the rest of the exhibit has successfully contextualized his pieces and you simply revel in his use of color and composition. He drew on the stylistic techniques of Japanese prints and yet created a look we continue to think of as quintessentially French. He was also extraordinarily successful at turning the medium of poster design into a true art form.

I'm sure the plumbing was awful, but it must have been a really great time to be alive and in that scene. A large black-and-white photo at the front of the exhibition shows revellers dancing about on the floor of one of the Montmartre cabarets, and you almost want to step into it. Rodolphe Salis had this to say about his establishment, Le Chat Noir: "The Chat Noir is the most extraordinary cabaret in the world. You rub shoulders with the most famous men of Paris, meeting these foreigners from every corner of the world."

Toulouse-Lautrec and the Spirit of Montmartre: Cabarets, Humor, and the Avant-Garde 1875-1905, Legion of Honor
March 10, 2001 - May 27, 2001
The Posters of Toulouse-Lautrec