A rare and well-sought variant of the celebrated poster "L'Artisan Moderne," by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, this special lithograph includes a seldom seen addition of the text reading "Qui?" in the upper right hand portion of the work. Completed as a favor to a friend André Marty, a publisher and dealer in the emerging field of graphic arts, to celebrate the founding of his galleries with the same moniker as Toulouse-Lautrec's work, this particular lithograph demonstrates beautifully the artist's homage to the Japanese woodblock prints he so admired. A perfect study in the dynamism of a picture plane and a celebration of the power of line, the composition depicts a lady in her boudoir being attended to by an artisan and her maid.
Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Country: France
Circa: 1894
Dimensions: 25.4" height, 36" width
Materials: Lithograph paper, Giltwood gesso frame
Signed: Artist's monogram, "HTL''
Literature: Lithograph pictured in Toulouse Lautrec and the art of the French Poster, by Howard Coutts and Claire Jones, Bowes Museum, 2004. 53 p., ill; Lithograph pictured in Le Peintre-Graveur Illustré, by Loys Delteil, Vols X, XI. Paris, 1920, p. 192; Lithograph pictured in Toulouse-Lautrec i l'esperit de Montmartre, by Phillip Dennis Cate, Saskia Oooms, Michela Niccolai, Laurent Bihl, Ricard Bru i Turull, Barcelona: Obra Social la Caixa, 2018, p. 274
Exhibition History: Lithograph featured in Toulouse-Lautrec, by Colta Ives, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition catalogue for the exhibition of the same name at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from July 2 to September 29, 1996; Lithograph also featured in Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Accessions 1942, London: HMSO, 1955.