(Print Department) Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was a French painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Although he regularly exhibited paintings and drawings throughout his career, Lautrec is best known for his lithographs and especially his posters, which celebrate the cabarets and the performers active in the Montmartre district of Paris during the 1890s.
With a few exceptions, the Boston Public Library’s collection of works by Lautrec was assembled by Albert H. Wiggin and came to the library as part of the 1941 gift by Wiggin of his private collection of prints and drawings. Included are plates from the series Elles and the portfolio Yvette Guilbert. Through Wiggin’s generosity, the library also was able to acquire the pages from an early sketchbook of drawings thought to have been created when Lautrec was in his teens.
Online access: Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.
