Omslag voor muziekblad Adolphe ou Le jeune homme triste met jonge man in lange jas en franse tekst 1894

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this lithograph music sheet cover for "Adolphe ou Le jeune homme triste" around the turn of the century in Paris. The image encapsulates the fin-de-siècle mood of the French capital at the time. The cultural references here are quite telling; the song was performed by Yvette Guilbert, a star of the café-concert scene and she embodied the spirit of Montmartre, where Lautrec also lived and worked. The "jeune homme triste" or sad young man, would have been a familiar figure from contemporary literature, embodying a kind of world-weary disillusionment that was fashionable at the time. Lautrec was fascinated by popular entertainment and he elevated the poster and the print to an art form. If we want to fully understand it, we need to look at the history of printmaking and advertising and also explore the social function of the café-concert. In understanding these social and institutional contexts, the meaning of Lautrec's art comes alive.