Yvette Guilbert

Yvette Guilbert is an important illustrated book created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1894. This work is not a single painting or standalone poster, but a highly significant compilation consisting of seventeen original lithographs, including the intricately designed cover, cementing its place as a major contribution to French graphic art of the late 19th century.

The primary subject of this volume is the celebrated cabaret star Yvette Guilbert, a key figure in the vibrant Parisian entertainment scene whom Toulouse-Lautrec obsessively documented. The artist often focused his gaze on the performers and personalities of Montmartre, treating these commercial figures with an intimacy and psychological insight usually reserved for formal portraiture. Created in 1894, this seminal series of prints documents Guilbert’s distinctive performance style, which was characterized by her severe, expressive face, satirical delivery, and signature long black gloves.

Toulouse-Lautrec masterfully utilized the reproductive and textural capabilities of lithography to capture studies that feel immediate and deeply observed. The medium allowed him to translate the rapid, sketch-like quality of his drawings directly into the prints, conveying the energy and ephemeral nature of Guilbert’s acts. The format of the illustrated book further allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to explore his subject through sequential imagery, documenting subtle nuances of movement and expression rather than relying on a single static representation.

Although highly stylized, the quick lines and tonal variations achieved through the lithography technique lend the work a journalistic quality appropriate for capturing transient celebrity. As a key example of the artist's inventive engagement with popular culture and the commercial print medium, Yvette Guilbert resides within the extensive collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Due to the historical importance of the original plates, the artistic concepts embodied in these 1894 prints are now widely accessible through public domain art resources, ensuring the enduring influence of Toulouse-Lautrec’s graphic style is recognized globally.