Elles (poster for 1896 exhibition at La Plume)

The influential 1896 poster, Elles (poster for 1896 exhibition at La Plume), was created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. This significant late-19th-century print announced an exhibition of the artist's work held at the Parisian journal La Plume. Toulouse-Lautrec utilized the demanding lithographic process, employing crayon, brush, and spatter techniques to achieve textural variation and depth. The medium is a sophisticated four-color lithograph printed on beige wove paper, representing the third and final state designed for public display as a large-scale poster edition.

This piece belongs to the wider Elles series, through which Toulouse-Lautrec sought to capture the private, unvarnished lives of Parisian women living in brothels, moving beyond sensationalism to provide sensitive, intimate portrayals. The compositions avoid theatricality, focusing instead on ordinary, unposed moments of rest and conversation. The work is characterized by its bold outlines and flat areas of color, typical of the poster format popularized during this fin-de-siècle period. The artist meticulously renders elements of contemporary fashion, such as the elaborate hats worn by the women subjects, grounding the prints in the visual culture of 1890s Paris.

Produced in 1896, this print solidified Toulouse-Lautrec's reputation as a master of the poster genre, establishing him as a key figure in post-Impressionist graphic arts. His innovative approach to color lithography effectively transformed commercial advertising into high art. As a celebrated example of his graphic output, the work resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a crucial document of Parisian social life and the evolution of modern prints at the turn of the century.