Léonie Yahne and Henry Mayer, in L'Age Difficile
Medium
Crayon and spatter lithograph with scraper printed in olive green on wove paper; only state
Dimensions
Image: 13 in. × 8 3/4 in. (33 × 22.3 cm) Sheet: 20 1/16 × 15 3/8 in. (51 × 39.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Clifford A. Furst, 1958
Accession Number
58.621.11
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1895, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec captured the lively spirit of Parisian cabaret culture with this striking lithograph featuring performers Léonie Yahne and Henry Mayer from the music-hall revue *L'Age Difficile* (The Difficult Age). Toulouse-Lautrec, a Post-Impressionist master renowned for his posters glorifying Montmartre's nightlife, portrayed the duo in a candid, intimate moment—likely mid-performance—highlighting the era's blend of humor, sensuality, and social commentary. Printed by Édouard Kleinmann, this olive-green monochrome image evokes the smoky ambiance of fin-de-siècle theaters...
About the Artist
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|Edouard Kleinmann · 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...