Poster for "Elles"

The Poster for "Elles" is a significant lithograph executed in 1896 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the master printer Auguste Clot. This striking example of late 19th-century French printmaking utilizes a sophisticated color palette rendered in olive green, blue, and orange inks. The work serves as the promotional element for the artist's acclaimed portfolio of ten lithographs, collectively known as Elles, which offered an unvarnished view into the private lives of Parisian women, often focusing on the residents of maisons closes (brothels). This type of promotional poster, designed to capture public attention immediately, exemplifies the vibrant artistic period of 1876 to 1900 when the lithographic poster transitioned from simple advertisement to a respected art form.

Toulouse-Lautrec was renowned for his ability to distill character and emotion using minimal line and flat planes of color, a technique heavily influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts. The technical excellence of this piece owes much to the expertise of Clot, the skilled printer who meticulously helped the artist realize his specific chromatic requirements in the complex process of color lithography. Unlike many of the artist's commercial works advertising cabarets or performers, the Poster for "Elles" offers a more subdued, psychologically rich depiction. The composition focuses on a woman arranging her hair, suggesting a moment of domestic intimacy and self-absorption rather than public performance, aligning with the tender, unsentimental approach taken throughout the Elles series.

As a key piece of French cultural output from the close of the century, this work reflects the modernist preoccupation with the complexities of urban life and the often-marginalized figures within it. The preparation and widespread circulation of these prints cemented Toulouse-Lautrec’s reputation as the preeminent visual chronicler of fin-de-siècle Paris. This particular impression of the lithograph resides in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., where it is preserved for scholarly research and public appreciation. Historically valuable prints such as this, produced during the artist's most prolific period, often inform the numerous high-quality reproductions and resources that become available through the public domain.