Bust of Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender (Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender, en buste)

Art Historical Context

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec a masterful Post-Impressionist artist of late 19th-century Paris, immortalized the vibrant Belle Époque nightlife in his and posters. Created in 1895, *Bust of Mademoiselleelle Lender* portrays the celebrated French actress and dancer Marc Lender, known for her captivating performances in operettas at the Moulin Rouge and other Montmartre venues. Lautrec's fascination with Lender led to several works featuring her, capturing her expressive features and theatrical allure amid the bohemian energy of Parisian cabarets. This striking lithograph, printed in a single olive green tone on imitation Japan paper, exemplifies Lautrec's innovative use of lithography—a technique he perfected to produce affordable, mass-reproduced images that blurred the line between fine art and popular advertising. The textured imitation Japan paper enhances the print's subtle depth and luminosity, mimicking the high-quality Asian papers favored by printmakers. Measuring about 50 x 32 cm, it now resides in the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection, highlighting Lautrec's role in elevating posters to collector's items. Lautrec's bold, psychological portraits like this one offer a window into fin-de-siècle culture, where theater stars embodied modernity and escapism. A testament to his genius for distilling personality into simplified forms, it invites visitors to revel in the glamour of a bygone era.

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...