Edmée Lescot, from Le Café-Concert

Edmée Lescot, from Le Café-Concert is a significant print created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1893. This classification as a lithograph, executed on ivory wove paper, highlights Toulouse-Lautrec's prolific engagement with graphic arts in 19th-century France. The composition captures a moment from the vibrant Parisian nightlife, reflecting the artist’s enduring fascination with the performers and patrons of the era's popular entertainment venues, particularly the café-concerts. The immediacy of the scene is achieved through the artist's confident use of line and tone, emphasizing character over idealized form. The collaboration between the artist and the print shop, Edward Ancourt & Cie, demonstrates the sophisticated technical means available to graphic artists during this period.

The figure of Edmée Lescot, a performer known in Montmartre, is rendered with the distinctive psychological insight characteristic of Toulouse-Lautrec’s style. His mastery of the lithographic process allowed him to achieve varied textures and bold contrasts, capturing the specific artificial lighting and theatricality associated with these night spots. This piece underscores the artist's crucial role in elevating prints from mere reproductive tools to independent artistic statements within the French avant-garde. The work was originally published in the influential series L’Estampe originale, cementing its status within contemporary printmaking circles. This important representation of fin-de-siècle life in France is housed within the esteemed collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, a resource that provides access to the image, which is widely available in the public domain.