Tailpiece from Au Pied du Sinaï

The Tailpiece from Au Pied du Sinaï is a significant illustration created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, 1864-1901 in 1897. Classified as a print, this piece is a reproduction of a lithograph executed on cream wove paper. Lautrec was a master of graphic arts, utilizing the commercial medium of lithography to achieve sharp, immediate, and often satirical portrayals of contemporary life in France.

The work functioned specifically as a tailpiece (a closing ornament) for the satirical literary volume Au Pied du Sinaï, a book detailing the customs and life of Jewish communities, written by the politician and writer Georges Clemenceau. Toulouse-Lautrec often collaborated with authors and periodicals, leveraging the accessibility and wide distribution potential of prints to disseminate his artistic interpretations and social commentary beyond elite art circles. This particular image, while modest in scale, captures the artist's characteristic expressive line work and focus on evocative compositions typical of fin-de-siècle Paris. The reproduction maintains the subtle textural and tonal qualities inherent in the original lithographic process on paper.

Created late in his career, this illustration is reflective of Toulouse-Lautrec’s influential position in French graphic arts, where he successfully merged the boundaries between fine art and commercial illustration. This important example of French printmaking from 1897 is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it serves as a key example of the artist’s prolific illustrative output.