Marcelle Lender Seated
Original title: Marcelle Lender Seated
kurzbeschreibung
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this crayon lithograph, Seated Marcelle Lender, in 1895. It portrays the celebrated dancer and singer in a relaxed pose. Printed in gray-black on wove paper, the work exists in a single state.
Description
A seated woman appears in profile, loosely settled, her gaze turned slightly away. Behind her run vertical stripes that recall a curtain. The drawing captures fabric and hair with abundant detail. At the bottom of the sheet are handwritten notes, likely title and signature. The color range stays simple: various grays emerge from changing line density and hatching.
Context
Marcelle Lender was a well-known singer and dancer in 1890s Paris and often performed at the Théâtre des Variétés. Toulouse-Lautrec admired her stage presence and portrayed her several times. This 1895 lithograph falls in a period when he was deeply engaged with printmaking. It belongs to a series of sheets showing Lender in different poses.
Impact
The quiet, almost intimate tone of the sheet is immediately apparent. Clear lines and the restriction to gray and black give the print a graphic clarity that does not age. The relaxed seated posture feels both natural and refined. The woman's gaze leads the viewer gently across the surface without being insistent.
Technique
For this crayon lithograph, the artist drew with greasy chalk on the stone and then worked it with a scraper. It was printed in gray-black on wove paper; the scraping technique creates fine highlights. The sheet exists in a single, unaltered state.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)