Madame Abdala, from "Le Café Concert"

Madame Abdala, from "Le Café Concert" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, is a compelling document of Parisian nightlife in the 1890s. Created in 1893, the print is classified as a brush and spatter lithograph with scraper, printed in black on wove paper. This sophisticated technique allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to exploit the expressive potential of lithography, using the brush to apply fatty ink to the stone and the scraper to carve out highlights and create nuanced tonal variations and expressive textures. The existence of the work as the "only state" confirms this impression represents the finality of the artist's design.

The subject, Madame Abdala, belongs to the colorful cast of entertainers, performers, and onlookers that defined the café concert scene in Montmartre. Toulouse-Lautrec focused his intense observational skill on capturing the unguarded moments and distinct personalities of these figures, often foregoing traditional glamour in favor of stark realism. This piece conveys the immediacy and energy characteristic of the artist’s oeuvre, which often bridged the gap between fine art and commercial graphic design.

The graphic boldness and reliance on strong black and white contrast highlight the influence Lautrec had on modern graphic arts. An important resource in understanding the development of late 19th-century French prints, this specific work resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ensuring its accessibility. As a key example of the artist’s work documenting the fin de siècle era, high-resolution images of Madame Abdala are often available through public domain resources, benefiting art historians and researchers globally.