Aristide Bruant, in His Cabaret
Medium
Color lithograph on tan wove paper
Dimensions
138 × 99 cm (54 3/8 × 39 in.)
Classification
poster
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
23671
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The gallant performer Aristide Bruant became known throughout Montmarte for the ability to capture the sentiments of working-class Parisians in his songs. Here Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec illustrated the essence of the audacious singer, portraying his trademark hat, scarf, and cloak in broad, flat planes of color to create an iconic image. Bruant himself was often seen in this garb on stage at his famous cabaret Le Mirliton, where he offered his witty, often-acerbic diatribes against the upper cla...
About the Artist
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1864–1901
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa (1864-1901) was a French Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker, and illustrator whose innovative poster designs revolutionized graphic art and advertising in late 19th-century Paris. Born into an aristocratic family at Albi in southern France, Toulouse-Lautrec's privileged lineage traced back to the Counts of Toulouse and extended uninterrupted to th...