The Anarchist Singer

Aristide Bruant cut a dashing figure in his red scarf, black velvet jacket, matching red shirt and boots. In his portraits by Toulouse-Lautrec, he is the epitomy of the Bohemian 'artiste'.

Born in Cortenay in 1851, the young Brunt grew up in a middle-class family. When his father died when he was just 12, however, he had to come to terms with poverty and join the workers. He became a jeweller's apprentice at 12. After that he worked for the Northern Railway's Company. He started travelling to Paris where he found another world - a world of music-halls and clubs that he wanted to join.

The young boy with stars in his eyes left home at just 15. He started his own singing and comedy act which impressed the club, Chat Noir. He was engaged by the club and eventually became its manager. Bruant changed the name to Le Mirliton.

The handsome singer became very popular. He dabbled in anarchist politics and sympathized with the struggles of the workers. He wrote songs that have been called 'narratives of poverty and prostitution'. These were called 'naturalist songs' and were in the same tradition as Zola's great realist novels about life on the streets and the sorrows of the working-class and poor.

Bruant's audience was mostly middle-class and he loved to insult them. He called them names like 'pig' and 'prostitute'. Whenever a woman came in, she was greeted by an audience chorus of: "Oh, How pale she is." Surprisingly, the audience loved all this.

The only person that he greeted nicely was his great friend, the artist Toulouse-Lautrec. When he came in, Bruant told the audience to welcome the 'great artist'. Bruant was one of the artist's first friends and helped his work become known. He commissioned a portrait for his poster for the club, Les Ambassadeurs, which is still one of Lautrec's most famous paintings.

Aristide Bruant was a great showman, who became a star of Montmartre, and made a lot of money. He eventually retired to run a farm, but he made a brief return to the stage at 73. He put on an act at the Empire Theatre and made a gramophone recording.

Toulouse-Loutrec's Favourite Dancer

The lithe redhead captivated the audience with her dancing. They liked her beauty charm and grace. Yet they found her melancholy.

Jane Avril had good reason to be melancholy. She had had to overcome great odds to achieve her dream of becoming a successful dancer. She had had very inauspicious beginnings.
Born in 1848, Avril was the daughter of La Belle Elise, a society girl, and Count Luigi di Font, a nobleman. Her father was mostly absent and her alcoholic mother beat her and even wanted her to be a prostitute.

Unsurprisingly, Avril ran away from home. She was picked up by the police who thought that she was insane and placed her in Paris's famous Salpatriere Hospital. Here she was put into the care of the nuns and Charcot, the expert on women's 'hysteria'.

Luckily, the nuns and Charcot discovered that the young girl loved to dance and determined that she was not insane. They released her at 16. Avril didn't return to her mother, however. (Who could blame her?)

She became a rider at the Hippodrome and a cashier at the World's Fair but she really wanted to dance. Eventually she became a dancer at the Moulin-Rouge and then the Jardin de Paris. The artist, Toulouse-Lautrec, identified with the young woman's sadness and used her as his model for many posters. They became good friends and shared a love of intellectual society. Avril was cultured and liked to mix with great writers such as Paul Verlaine. There is even speculation that Lautrec fell in love with the slim redhead.

In 1895 Avril seized her chance. She was offered a lot of money to replace Louise Weber, who was retiring. She accepted and became a lead dancer at the Moulin-Rouge. She even toured London.

In 1910 at the age of 42 Avril married the journalist, Maurice Blais. He was unfaithful and didn't have much money. After he died she was penniless and died in a nursing home.

Toulouse-Lautrec's art has made Jane Avril, with her sad look, her grace, and her flaming red hair, immortal.

Links

I was delighted to find this site devoted to Jane by Craig: Jane Avril of the Moulin Rouge Here you will find a detailed biography and interesting links.