Emilienne d'Alençon

Emilienne d'Alençon is a significant lithograph created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1898. Classified as a fine art print, this artwork exemplifies the artist's masterful use of the graphic medium during the late 19th century in France. Toulouse-Lautrec was instrumental in elevating printmaking from a commercial tool to a high art form, often combining robust draftsmanship with immediate, expressive coloration.

Toulouse-Lautrec frequently documented the theatrical and lively world of Parisian nightlife, capturing the essence of the Belle Époque through his keen observations. His choice of the lithograph was strategic, allowing for broad dissemination and a dynamic, immediate style suited to poster art and illustration. The subject, Emilienne d'Alençon, was a notorious dancer and celebrity courtesan, embodying the vibrant energy and often scandalous freedom of fin-de-siècle French culture. Lautrec’s approach to her portraiture avoids the typical idealization of academic painting, focusing instead on capturing the psychological complexity and public persona of the Parisian celebrity figure through sharp contour and decisive line.

The work, a superb example of how Toulouse-Lautrec synthesized commercial and fine art prints, highlights the artist's innovative compositional strategies and his enduring influence on modern graphic design. His documentation of this specific period and his iconic works depicting dancers, entertainers, and figures from Montmartre are among the most celebrated prints in art history. Due to the age and prominence of this masterwork, high-resolution reproductions of Lautrec’s work often reside in the public domain, making them widely accessible for study. This important lithograph, Emilienne d'Alençon, is held in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.