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Lot Essay
La Clownesse assise (Mademoiselle CHA-U-KAO) was published in Toulouse-Lautrec's celebrated 1896 portfolio of ten lithographs, Elles, which was dedicated primarily to the depiction of prostitutes in the maisons closes or brothels of Paris. A regular visitor and at times a long-term guest of these establishments, the artist was well-acquainted with the women who lived and worked there. He was particularly interested in depicting them in their daily routines, whether at the wash table, getting dressed, or dozing in bed. These quiet domestic scenes were mostly printed with only one or very few colors. La Clownesse is an exception amongst this portfolio, and it remains unclear why Toulouse-Lautrec decided to include her, a stage performer and not a prostitute, in this series.
A dancer at the Nouveau Cirque and the Moulin Rouge, Mademoiselle CHA-U-KAO claimed to be Japanese, yet her name was in fact a phonetic transcription of the French word “chahut” (an acrobatic dance derived from the cancan) and evocative of the chaos she caused whenever she came on stage. CHA-U-KAO began her performing life as a lithe and supple gymnast, as evident in photographs taken by Toulouse-Lautrec's close companion Maurice Guibert. By 1895 however, the agile, slender dancer had metamorphosed into that of the ageing, slightly overweight clownesse. The arc of CHA-U-KAO's life, ending in physical ruin, was bound to attract Lautrec. Fascinated as he was by decadence and decline, it was his ability to empathize with his subjects and his willingness to show them in all their human frailty and vulnerability—off-stage rather than in the spotlight—that sets him apart from most of his contemporaries.
A dancer at the Nouveau Cirque and the Moulin Rouge, Mademoiselle CHA-U-KAO claimed to be Japanese, yet her name was in fact a phonetic transcription of the French word “chahut” (an acrobatic dance derived from the cancan) and evocative of the chaos she caused whenever she came on stage. CHA-U-KAO began her performing life as a lithe and supple gymnast, as evident in photographs taken by Toulouse-Lautrec's close companion Maurice Guibert. By 1895 however, the agile, slender dancer had metamorphosed into that of the ageing, slightly overweight clownesse. The arc of CHA-U-KAO's life, ending in physical ruin, was bound to attract Lautrec. Fascinated as he was by decadence and decline, it was his ability to empathize with his subjects and his willingness to show them in all their human frailty and vulnerability—off-stage rather than in the spotlight—that sets him apart from most of his contemporaries.