Program for "The Little Clay Cart"

Program for "The Little Clay Cart" is a significant color lithograph on cream wove paper created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, 1864-1901, in 1895. This piece exemplifies the artist's pivotal role in elevating commercial art and establishing the aesthetic hallmarks of Belle Époque Paris. Lautrec, known for his mastery of the poster and print medium, utilized the vibrancy inherent in color lithography to capture the dynamic energy and complex characters associated with Parisian cultural life. The resulting work functioned as both an advertisement and a detailed program for the theatrical production, effectively leveraging the visual appeal of the graphic format.

The production of The Little Clay Cart, an ancient Indian Sanskrit drama, reflects the era's growing fascination with international and exotic themes filtering into mainstream French popular culture. Toulouse-Lautrec’s characteristic post-Impressionist style, marked by simplified forms, flattened planes, and bold outlines, was perfectly suited for the technical and visual requirements of the emerging advertising industry in France.

As a fine example of fin-de-siècle commercial prints, this work demonstrates the technical sophistication achieved by Parisian printmakers toward the close of the nineteenth century. This important historical document of both theatrical history and graphic design is housed in the distinguished collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Because of its age and cultural significance, the work is often available as high-resolution digital prints in the public domain, ensuring its continued influence on graphic arts globally.