Edmée Lescot from Le Café Concert

Edmée Lescot from Le Café Concert by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a key example of the artist's intense engagement with Parisian nightlife in the late nineteenth century. Created in 1893, the work is a striking lithograph, which forms one component of a larger, highly significant portfolio titled Le Café Concert. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) catalogs the overall set as an Illustrated Book due to its comprehensive nature, containing twenty-three individual prints that document performers, patrons, and the theatrical atmosphere of the era.

The print captures the essence of the café-concert environment, a popular and sometimes scandalous element of French social life during the Belle Époque. Toulouse-Lautrec frequently documented performers and attendees with incisive observation, prioritizing expressive line and composition over highly finished detail. The nature of these original prints allowed for wider distribution and solidified his reputation as the visual chronicler of modern urban life. The artist's distinctive style, characterized by flattened space and dynamic outlines, owes influence to contemporary Japanese ukiyo-e prints, providing a fresh approach to European portraiture.

The technique of lithography was perfectly suited to the rapid, sketch-like immediacy Toulouse-Lautrec sought to achieve. As one piece of the 1893 series, this work showcases the versatility of the medium in capturing fleeting moments and character studies. The subject, Edmée Lescot, is rendered with the characteristic economy of line that defined the artist's graphic output. This particular print, currently residing in the Museum of Modern Art collection, provides crucial insight into the graphic production of this major French artist. The continued study of such prints ensures Lautrec's vision remains central to the history of late nineteenth-century modernism.