Yvette Guilbert-French Series: No. 14

Yvette Guilbert-French Series: No. 14 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a key example of the artist’s mastery of graphic art, created in 1894. The piece is executed as a lithograph, the medium Toulouse-Lautrec expertly employed to capture the fleeting moments and personalities of fin-de-siècle Paris. The subject, Yvette Guilbert, was a wildly popular French cabaret singer and actress known for her unique performance style and distinctive costume, often featuring long black gloves, a feature sometimes exaggerated by the artist.

The classification of this piece as a "Book" implies it was intended as one of the images within a dedicated portfolio or volume illustrating the life and performances of Guilbert, confirming its role in the booming market for artistic prints in late 19th-century France. This lithograph demonstrates Toulouse-Lautrec’s sophisticated technique: using simplified lines and dramatic silhouettes, the artist captures the performer’s dynamic presence without relying on detailed realistic representation.

Toulouse-Lautrec was dedicated to documenting the complex social environment of the entertainment districts, and the prints related to Guilbert are among his most celebrated portraits of Parisian celebrity. This work, specifically identified as No. 14 within the French series, isolates the essential characteristics of its subject, reflecting the shift toward a modern aesthetic in graphic design. The artist leveraged the democratic nature of the lithographic process to widely disseminate these images, influencing poster design and popular visual culture across Europe. This historically significant work of graphic art is housed in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.