Elles (portfolio cover)

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 poignant femininity amid Montmartre's nightlife. Printed in three vibrant colors using crayon, brush, and spatter techniques on wove paper, the work exemplifies Lautrec's innovative lithography. These methods allowed for dynamic textures and fluid lines, mimicking the spontaneity of his drawings while achieving bold, mass-reproducible impact. At 20 7/16 × 15 3/4 inches, its intimate scale draws viewers close, much like Lautrec's own immersion in the cabaret world despite his physical disabilities. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982), *Elles* reflects Lautrec's cultural legacy: humanizing marginalized lives and revolutionizing commercial art. It invites us to see beauty in the overlooked, a timeless reminder of Paris's vibrant, shadowed soul.

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...