98 degree poster

Vis-a-vis: Toulouse-Lautrec centennial poster anniversary

"Toulouse-Lautrec?" "A superstar! The Mickey Mouse of the 19th century: his-- posters decorated children's rooms!" Anthon Beeke boldly asserts. What on earth could this incredibly talented and devastatingly humorous enfant terrible of Dutch design have in common with the Escourbiac's, father and son--printers from the city of Toulouse classically decked out in glasses and V-necks-or with Remy Gass, the enlightened marketing director for the Franco-German paper firm Scheufelen? In a nutshell: an overwhelming admiration for Toulouse-- Lautrec.

To pay tribute to that master of the flowing line, these four musketeers brazenly appealed to the biggest names in international design. The Nouveau Salon des CentI is the fruit of one year's unpaid labor and the unflagging enthusiasm of the four comrades-in-arms.

The basic Idea for the exhibition came from Michel Escourbiac who, in addition to his profession as a printer and his leisure-time activities as a photographer and an art publisher, is a longstanding fan of that pioneer poster designer. However, he contritely admits, In his own homeland "nobody could care less" about the 100th anniversary of Lautrec's death. Finally, he sought out Anthon Beeke, whom he had met through Remy Gass, matchless promoter of the famous paper line Job Parilux.

Subsequently, Gass said he would be happy to officiate as translator between the non-French-speaking Dutchman and the In turn Impervious-to-English denizen of Toulouse. Upon occasion, when receiving them in his Paris office, so conveniently located between Amsterdam and the Pyrenees, he would also serve as a cultural Interpreter between the Impulsive designer and the more down-to-- earth printer.

Straight off, Beeke envisioned a monumental project. Considering Toulouse-- Lautrec to be one of the grandfathers of graphic design, that would make the two more or less cousins. So why not gather this big family of graphic designers and make a joint tribute, consisting of 100 posters designed by 100 artists throughout the world? And have them sign using the family name "Toulouse": Thomas Toulouse-Geismar, Swip Toulouse-Stolk, Isidro Toulouse-Ferrer.

Designated art director for the project, Beaks had the task of deciding upon the world's greatest graphic designers-a process that at times provoked dilemmas of truly Cornelian dimensions. His selection encompassed all generations, up to the 94-year-old Savignac! Having dissected his address book, Beaks went on to explain the project In full to everyone on his list by every means at his disposal, be it snail-mail, e-mail, fax or telephone. With the exception of several overbooked artists, everyone contacted agreed to participate, and to do so free of charge. Some were slower than others about actually sending In their poster designs. Book's remedy was to fax the dawdlers a drawing with two coffeepots: one with the spout right side up and am with the spout upside down (Pg. 147)-- an allusion to the nickname attached to Lautrec2 for so often losing his cool In front of the brothel mesdames. The drawing bore the following question: "Are you still interested? If so, check the upright spout, otherwise the one pointing down." The joke did the job and the missing submissions soon showed up. The end result actually took the four organizers' breath away, for the diversity and quality of the poster collection as a whole far surpassed their wildest dreams.

The artists from all nations-be it Andre Fran.ois or Shigeo Fukuda, Roger Pfund or Milton Glaser-must have worked relentlessly in honor of their common ancestor, even it, as Beeks explains, measuring themselves against such an exceptional artist was "nigh to attempting the Impossible. It required an enormous amount of research, analysis and creativity. And, clearly, the graphic designers got caught up In the game." Moreover, the posters were published on the famous Job Parlux line of paper-- cream of the crop and a favorite with countless graphic designers (and for which Toulouse-Lautrec himself had, at the time, done the sketch of an advertisement). The German manufacturer generously donated ten tons of this "papier couche" (coated stock), but nonetheless--at 380 copies of one hundred posters, formatted 68 x 98 cm and printed using the best printers (Heidelberg-- the "game" came to an impressive 1.5 million French Francs. What funds were available at the outset? None! For months and months, Michel Escourbiac checked out town councils and museums in search of patrons, but to no avail. Not a single door opened, neither in the artist's birthplace, the city of Albi, nor in his place of death, Bordeaux. As for Toulouse, where Toulouse-Lautrec incarnated the region's great "counts of Toulouse" family, Escourbiac was promised a reply. A reply he is still awaiting.

To solve their quandary, the organizers ended up putting 350 series up for sale, with fifty nonetheless set aside to be donated to various schools of applied arts and universities. Escourbiac himself would have preferred to consider these posters in the wider sense of folk art, and to display them where they belong, namely on the street. His dream was to thus grant the largest possible public access to this extraordinary collection, representing at once "an inventory of contemporary graphic design, the expression of a world heritage, and a an encounter of cultures from five continents." But the city outskirts where he felt they should be shown have become "too hot" nowadays to risk the provocative effects of bared breasts or high-kicking legs.

A degree of consolation for this disappointment has come in the way of museum shows, notably at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museee Toulouse-- Lautrec in Albi, and the Museum Bayard In Breda (Not-ands). Hopefully, more will follow throughout the world. Yet Instead of presenting them as framed pictures, these shows have displayed them as they are meant to be seen-that is, pasted directly against the wall. "Posters are meant to be pasted, tagged, torn-in short, sacrificed," Escourbiac peremptorily notes. A point of view Toulouse-Lautrec himself, a tortured soul on an eternal spree, would hardly disown. Note: i An annual poster exhibitionn open to no mom than IM artists (founded In 1894 by Leon Deschamps, to encourage "all talents"). 2 "Cafetiere au large bec""