Paula Brébion (from Le Café Concert)

Paula Brébion (from Le Café Concert) is a significant print created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1893. This compelling depiction of the Parisian stage performer Paula Brébion was executed as a brush lithograph, printed in a distinctive light olive-green ink on wove paper. This specialized medium represents the only known state of the work. The technique, involving the application of the drawing material directly to the lithographic stone using a brush, allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to maintain the expressive, spontaneous freedom of a rapid sketch while creating multiples. This efficiency was crucial for an artist focused on producing popular and widely disseminated prints.

Toulouse-Lautrec was renowned for his insightful and often unromanticized portraits of the entertainers, dancers, and women who defined Montmartre's nightlife in the late nineteenth century. Brébion is captured mid-performance, a candid observation characteristic of the artist’s approach to documenting the energy of the fin de siècle Parisian stage. The composition emphasizes line and posture over heavy shading, resulting in an image that is both immediate and intimate.

As a master of the graphic arts, Toulouse-Lautrec’s work helped elevate the artistic status of color lithography in the 1890s. His pioneering prints provide crucial documentation of the shifting social and cultural life of Paris, blurring the line between fine art and commercial illustration. This detailed brush lithograph is classified as a print within the extensive collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a prime example of the artist’s commitment to capturing the raw vibrancy of the public domain of the café concert.