Lithographic posters proliferated in Paris during the 1890s, due to technical advances in color lithography. Toulouse-Lautrec whole-heartedly participated in this commercial art form, creating dynamic eye-catching advertisements, including this one, which announced a London performance of the Troupe of Mademoiselle Eglantine at the Palace Theatre of Varieties in 1896. Commissioned by the artist’s friend Jane Avril, the poster depicts the legendary cabaret star at the left of the line as the troupe enthusiastically performs the cancan in a cloud of flying petticoats.
The dance was considered scandalous, and for a while there were attempts to repress it. This may have been partly because in the 19th century, women wore pantalettes, which had an open crotch, meaning that a high kick could be unintentionally revealing. There is no evidence that cancan dancers wore special closed underwear, although it has been claimed that the Moulin Rouge management did not permit dancers to perform in "revealing undergarments". Occasionally people dancing the cancan were arrested but there is no record of it being banned.
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