Color lithograph, 1892-93. 800x595 mm; 31x23 1/4 inches. Printed by Ancourt, Paris. A very good impression of this important lithograph, with the rgistration marks preserved upper and lower center and with the printed address of Ancourt, lower right.
The Divan Japonais was a small café-concert at 75 rue des Martyrs, Paris, where Yvette Guilbert began her career. This is Toulouse-Lautrec's only poster to show both Jane Avril and Yvette Guilbert, the two Montmartre demimondes who were both his friends and major inspirations. Jane Avril, the star dancer at the Moulin Rouge, is pictured here seated next to the literary critic, Édouard Dujardin. On stage in the background, Guilbert is depicted from the neck down, recognizable by her trademark long black gloves. The composition is arranged along the diagonal of the stage and the orchestra in the style of ukiyo-e woodcuts that were so fashionable in Paris at the end of the 19th century and from which artists from the Impressionists to Gauguin and Van Gogh drew influence. Delteil 341; Adhémar 11; Adriani 8.
