In preparation for the upcoming exhibition Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries, the Center for Creative Connections staff has been prototyping a new interactive art-making activity. Inspired by poster-making at the Denver Art Museum, we are including a hands-on poster-making space in the exhibition. Our current prototype activity has a limited array of characters which our visitors can choose and combine to create their own poster; but as you can see, creativity still flourishes. Though each of these three posters below uses the man with the top hat in a similar placement in the composition, the context in which he is placed is quite different.
On the left is an 8-year-old boy’s romantic combination of the man with the top hat (with a slender cigarette) and Jane Avril. In the middle, a young man has replaced that slender cigarette with a hefty cigar. All of the romance is gone with the shadowy figures in the background looking on as the man with the top hat strangles a poor rooster. Pictured on the right is a collaborative piece created by a group of women from the Art Institute of Fort Worth. Each woman took a turn adding to the composition in what ended up as a playful hodge-podge.
Swing by the Dallas Museum of Art from October 14 – January 20 to see Posters of Paris and create your own poster! What will you do with the man with the top hat?
Jessica Nelson
C3 Gallery Coordinator