Elles (portfolio cover)
Medium
Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph printed in three colors on wove paper; second state of three (frontispiece edition)
Dimensions
Image: 20 7/16 × 15 3/4 in. (51.9 × 40 cm) Sheet: 20 7/16 × 15 3/4 in. (51.9 × 40 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982
Accession Number
1984.1203.166(2)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec *Elles (portfolio cover, created in 1896, serves as the striking frontispiece for his renowned series of lithographs depicting the intimate lives of women in Parisian brothels. A master of Post-Impressionist poster art, Lautrec captured the Belle Époque's underbelly with unflinching empathy, elevating everyday scenes of prostitutes—often shown in quiet, domestic moments like washing or arranging flowers—beyond mere sensationalism. This second state of three, from the frontispiece edition, features women adorned with elaborate hats, evoking the era's fashionable yet po...
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...