Femme fumant une cigarette (1890)

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de (1864-1901)

Femme fumant une cigarette (Woman Smoking a Cigarette)
1890
Oil, watercolor, and graphite over charcoal on paper board, 47 x 29.8 cm
Brooklyn MuseumNew York

Around 1890 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec produced a number of works depicting the interior, domestic spaces of working-class women in the neighborhood of Montmartre. Best known for his portrayal of sex workers and cabaret performers, Toulouse-Lautrec here chose to leave the sitter’s identity anonymous and her location unknown, although the washbasin and cigarette suggest a cheap room and a proletarian station in life. The figure comes vividly alive, however, in graphic brushstrokes and contrasting colors, with her angular face at once inscrutable and specifically rendered. (BkM)