Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant
1892 · Colour lithograph (poster) · Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
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About this work
- Artist
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)
- Year
- 1892
- Medium
- Colour lithograph (poster)
- Original size
- 31.9 × 21.7 cm
- Collection
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (department of Prints and Photography)
- Movement
- Post-Impressionism
The cabaret singer Aristide Bruant stands full length in his black cape, wide-brimmed hat and long red scarf, a cane under his arm, the lettering "Ambassadeurs" above him and "dans son cabaret" below. Toulouse-Lautrec designed the poster in 1892 for Bruant's engagement at the Ambassadeurs café-concert on the Champs-Élysées; the manager, Ducarre, hated it, and Bruant threatened to cancel unless it was posted all over the hall. The flat planes of black and red and the massive silhouette made it one of the first great posters of the Belle Époque, and the same design, reversed, was reused the same year for the Eldorado. The impression reproduced here is the small-format version held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A big black silhouette with one red scarf, for a hallway, study or bar wall at 16×24 or 24×36 in a thin black frame, no mat. It holds a white, grey or deep green wall and pairs with the Divan Japonais or Jane Avril for a Montmartre run.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Post-Impressionism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1892)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, sophisticated
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, home bar, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — dark wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge to edge, filling the whole sheet (very slightly cropped to fit) — and available on gallery-wrapped canvas.
