Miss May Belfort at the Irish American Bar, Rue Royale (Miss May Belfort au Irish American Bar, Rue Royale)

Miss May Belfort at the Irish American Bar, Rue Royale (Miss May Belfort au Irish American Bar, Rue Royale) is a significant lithograph created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1895. As a master of the graphic arts, Toulouse-Lautrec utilized the medium of printmaking to capture the fleeting glamour and often solitary existence of entertainment figures within fin-de-siècle Paris. This French print exemplifies the artist’s commitment to documenting contemporary life, employing the flat color fields, dramatic cropping, and dynamic linear elements characteristic of his distinctive Post-Impressionist style. This classification as a lithograph emphasizes its nature as a reproducible work, integral to the mass distribution of posters and fine art prints during the period.

The subject is Miss May Belfort (1872-1929), an Irish singer who achieved fame in Parisian cabarets, despite or perhaps because of her highly unusual act. Belfort was known for her deliberately childlike, doll-like stage persona, often performing risqué songs while holding a kitten or wearing a bonnet. Toulouse-Lautrec often focused on marginalized performers and the intimate social scenes of Montmartre, treating his subjects with rigorous observation and empathy. Here, she is depicted in the specific environment of the Irish American Bar on Rue Royale, perhaps caught in a quiet moment off-stage. Toulouse-Lautrec employs stark simplification and selective detailing to draw attention to Belfort’s distinctive, slightly melancholy expression, providing a psychological depth often absent in conventional portraiture.

The composition reflects the observational power central to Toulouse-Lautrec’s work, avoiding sentimentalization in favor of immediate documentation of personality and setting. Works like Miss May Belfort at the Irish American Bar, Rue Royale were crucial in establishing the artist's reputation as a pioneer in modern graphic arts. The immediate, journalistic quality of this lithograph captures a specific moment in French cultural and social history, demonstrating the successful integration of high art and commercial illustration. This important piece remains a vital example of the artist’s printmaking legacy, and today it resides in the esteemed collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).