

Aristide Bruant, at His Cabaret, 1893
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)
Lithograph printed in four colors; machine wove paper
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)
Lithograph printed in four colors; machine wove paper
54 5/16 x 39 in. (138 x 99 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932 (32.88.17)
Aristide Bruant was a successful singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur who ran a cabaret in the Montmartre quarter of Paris. When he began performing at up-scale café-concerts on the Champs-Élysées, he immediately commissioned Toulouse-Lautrec to market his rough street persona in a manner that would appeal to a bourgeois audience. Seizing on Bruant's trademark costume of a wide-brimmed hat, cape, and red scarf, Lautrec designed a sparse yet iconic image that promoted both the performer's career as well as his own.







