Polaire

Polaire is a celebrated color lithograph created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1895. This striking example of late 19th-century graphic arts captures the portrait of the controversial French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud, known professionally by her stage name, Polaire. Toulouse-Lautrec, renowned for documenting the vibrant, often marginalized, figures of Parisian nightlife, produced this piece either as a sophisticated artistic print or as a specialized edition of a poster intended for promotion. The distinctive nature of the medium allows for the fluid, sketch-like quality and strong graphic lines that characterize the artist's finest prints.

Polaire herself was a fixture of the belle époque stage, famous for her dramatic style, tiny waist, and heavily made-up appearance, often wearing elaborate costumes. Toulouse-Lautrec focuses on her theatrical persona, using bold outlines and flat areas of color typical of Japanese ukiyo-e influences that permeated contemporary European graphic arts. As a master of the affiche illustrée (illustrated poster), Toulouse-Lautrec elevated the technical demands of color lithography, making the resulting prints highly desirable among collectors seeking sophisticated portraits of the era’s celebrated women.

This representation, highlighting the theatrical portraits of prominent women in fin-de-siècle society, serves as an important record of the era’s cultural landscape. The work is classified as a fine art print and currently resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Given its age and cultural significance, high-resolution scans and related archival materials often enter the public domain, allowing researchers and enthusiasts worldwide access to Toulouse-Lautrec’s iconic body of work.