Lautrec drew and painted dancers. There was movement, the light was artificial, the masses of the kicking legs were shown. Time would be evening, gas light, candle light. Quick motion of dancers like Jane Avril, which used to be my avatar. Warm colors, Indian yellow, oranges, for highlights....
The artist frequently employed the spattered ink technique known as crachis, seen in his series of prints depicting Miss Loïe Fuller (1970.534). Fuller was an American famous in fin-de-siècle Paris for her performances combining dance, multicolored artificial lights (her nickname was the "Electric Fairy"), and music. As she twirled and bounded across the stage, enormous lengths of fabric would billow outward from her body and reflect the colored lights, creating a spectacular effect. Lautrec executed about sixty versions of this print in a variety of colored inks, including gold and silver, which evoke, cumulatively, the effect of her performances.
