Cover for the first album of L'Estampe originale

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

New developments in printing techniques resulted in an explosion of color lithography in the 1890s, and lithogra- phers like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec regularly collaborated with professional printing workshops to improve consistency and efficiency in their production. Color lithography was used both for posters and for smaller prints or portfolios that could be purchased by a growing market of middle-class private collectors. Toulouse-Lautrec designed this cover for the first issue of L’Estampe originale, a quarterly portfolio that included prints by the era’s leading artists. The cover depicts the fashionable Jane Avril examining a print at the Ancourt printing workshop, where the older Père Cotelle, Toulouse-Lautrec’s trusted printer, operates the press.

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