Portland museum gets Toulouse-Lautrec works

Portland, Ore. — The Portland Art Museum has received a gift valued at $1.2 million — 10 prints by the French Impressionist artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, each depicting a scene from the life of Parisian prostitutes.

The gift, which comes from an anonymous Portland-area couple, is the most valuable gift the museum has received from a collector in the past decade, said executive director John Buchanan.

The prints are on display until March 23 at the museum as part of the exhibit called “Paris to Portland: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masters in Portland Collections.”

Art historians consider the prints to be Toulouse-Lautrec’s greatest achievement as a printmaker.

The prints, done in the artist’s famously bold and bright colors, capture their provocative subjects with frankness and sympathy.

The series joins about two dozen other works by Toulouse-Lautrec in the museum’s collection, boosting its holdings of one of the most famous artists of the Post-Impressionist era.

Spain drops tourism ad featuring unclad woman

Madrid, Spain — The Spanish authorities have agreed to drop a tourism promotion ad featuring a naked woman because it was deemed sexist, a women’s rights group says.

The ad, encouraging vacations in the northeastern region of Catalonia, showed the back of a nude, suntanned woman with the mark left by a string bikini. A slogan read, “Spain marks you.”

The Observatori de les Dones, a Catalan watchdog for women’s issues, lodged a complaint claiming the ad was discriminatory and sexist.

The ad, unveiled in late February, was to have been part of an international campaign costing $2.1 million.

Turespana, Spain’s tourism agency, said the ad would be replaced by others showing general pictures of sun and beaches. The regional government of Catalonia also said it would drop the ad.

Ads to promote the region will instead focus on family tourism, the public image of Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi and the next celebration during a year dedicated to renowned surrealist painter Salvador Dali.