Exhibition: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre

Bullet PR was commissioned to devise an Arts PR campaign for a major new exhibition, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre, which opened at the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath on February 15 and runs until May 26, 2020.

For the first time in the UK, Lautrec’s complete collection of posters, which revolutionised the world of graphic design, will be exhibited together. More than 80 iconic posters, many of them rare and seen here for the first time, will go on show. They will be displayed in their full colourful glory, many in giant format from floor to ceiling, recreating how they were originally seen on the streets of Paris.

The exhibition will include 32 posters by Toulouse-Lautrec along with works by other celebrated poster artists of the day such as Alphonse Mucha, Pierre Bonnard and Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen.

The Post-Impressionist French painter, printmaker, caricaturist and illustrator Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901) moved in the ‘celebrity’ circles of 19th-century Bohemian Paris. Hugely influenced by the flamboyant, vibrant, eclectic, free-spirited, debauched lifestyle of the time, his work was known for its provocative nature, highlighting Paris’s colourful nightlife, stripping away the glamour to bring the Parisian underworld to life.

The PR campaign garnered very positive feature coverage and reviews in, amongst others, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Country and Townhouse, Design Week and Waitrose Weekend.