At Les Ambassadeurs (Au Café-Concert / At the Café Concert), from "L'Estampe Originale"

At Les Ambassadeurs (Au Café-Concert / At the Café Concert), from "L'Estampe Originale" is a pivotal print created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1894. This sophisticated piece exemplifies the artist’s mastery of graphic technique, executed as a crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph printed meticulously in six distinct colors. The complexity of the six-color registration marks this work as highly advanced for the time, cementing Toulouse-Lautrec's reputation as one of the preeminent innovators in modern printmaking.

The artwork captures the dynamic energy and specific atmosphere of the café-concert environment, a central motif in the artist's exploration of Parisian nightlife during the fin de siècle. Toulouse-Lautrec was keenly observant of the performers and spectators, focusing particularly on the bold, often marginalized, women who populated the stage and the boxes. The immediacy of his style, characterized by spontaneous lines and expressive fields of color achieved through the lithographic process, provides an unvarnished glimpse into the entertainment industry of the era.

Included in the influential portfolio "L'Estampe Originale," which sought to promote contemporary graphic arts, the work demonstrates the growing importance of artistic prints as both a medium of high art and mass communication. This celebrated impression, At Les Ambassadeurs, resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it serves as a critical document of modern draftsmanship and social commentary. As significant works of this period transition into the public domain, Toulouse-Lautrec’s enduring influence on poster art and graphic design continues to be studied globally.