Response paper for art - Essay Example

Response Paper for Art B) Moulin Rouge: La Goulue by Toulouse Lautrec This piece of art was put together by one of the artists who gained overnight success, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. The name of this work is “Moulin Rouge: La Goulue,” and it was created by Lautrec two years after the launching of the dance hall and drinking garden of Moulin Rouge boulevard de Clichy in the year of 1889. The La Goulue is one of the series of posters, which Lautrec was assigned to make regarding the Moulin cabaret.

One of the art elements that can be noticed in the picture is the way the figures are defined in it. There is no use of “modeling or shadow” and this “emphasizes the two dimensional design” (Kiehl & Cate, 1988). The floor lines being “tilted up” as well as the “bold contours” accentuate focus on the frontal plane, where various constituents of the piece, such as “words, performers, spectators, and lights” appear parallel (Kiehl & Cate, 1988). Another element that can be seen in this work, is the Japanese influence Lautrec has in his art, such as shedding partial view on La Goulue, the sensual female dancer depicted in the image.

In this poster, Lautrec uses the technique of brush and spatter lithography, and on a closer inspection, it can be seen that the poster is a print comprising of four colors on three sheets. The poster is made out of the primary colors “red, blue and yellow” and makes use of thick audacious lines at places. Lautrec has deftly captured not only the setting, that is, the Moulin Rogue, but also the various people and the actions they perform, and this characterization makes the work a masterpiece.

ReferenceKiehl, David W. & Cate, Phillip D. (1988). American Art Posters of the 1890s: In the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.