The Automobile Driver (L'Automobiliste)

The Automobile Driver (L'Automobiliste) is a lithograph created by the innovative French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1898. This significant print marks a slight departure from Toulouse-Lautrec's characteristic portrayals of Parisian cabaret life and the theatrical world of Montmartre. Produced during the final years of the nineteenth century, the subject matter captures the spirit of the rapidly modernizing Belle Époque, specifically the excitement surrounding the emergent technology of the automobile. The choice of lithography as a medium was central to the artist's practice, allowing Toulouse-Lautrec to produce strong, expressive lines and bold compositional elements suitable for capturing the dynamism of modern life and the urgency of technological change.

The piece exemplifies Toulouse-Lautrec's mastery of graphic art, utilizing simplified forms, sharp contrasts, and dynamic cropping to focus attention on the subject and the vehicle. Although the lithograph is titled after the driver, the composition often emphasizes the mechanical force and inherent speed of the nascent automobile itself. This focus on machinery and the velocity of modern transport differentiates the work from the artist's more intimate genre scenes, placing it within a burgeoning artistic interest in industrial subjects among late nineteenth-century artists. Toulouse-Lautrec, known for his ability to distill the essence of a moment with minimal visual detail, treats the subject with an immediacy that anticipates trends in early twentieth-century artistic movements.

As one of the important prints produced by the artist, the image demonstrates how high art in 1898 France was beginning to engage directly with popular culture and sweeping technological shifts. This specific representation of technological modernity, titled The Automobile Driver (L'Automobiliste), serves as a crucial example of the post-Impressionist's diverse and influential output in the field of modern French prints. The work is currently held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where it remains a key documentation of the artist's engagement with the transitional era of the turn of the century.