Miss May Belfort 1895

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this lithograph of Miss May Belfort using a greasy crayon on a slab of limestone, a process that creates an image from the flat surface of the stone. He was a master of this medium, and the way the crayon drags across the stone gives the image a distinctive character. Look closely, and you can see how the fine lines create tone and texture. But the choice of lithography was also crucial to Lautrec’s art, because it allowed him to produce posters and prints in large numbers, very quickly. He was part of a generation of artists who embraced this new potential for mass production. They saw it as a way to break down the traditional hierarchy between fine art and commercial imagery. By exploring the techniques of printmaking, artists like Lautrec placed themselves at the heart of modern urban life, and the culture of entertainment that depended on the labor of many.