Yaneff.com

Sold for $2160 US Swann Auction Galleries, NY. Feb 2012 

Lithograph depicting an elderly gentleman in a top hat escorting a younger woman (Yvette Guibert) carrying a hat box. The print advertises a theatrical monologue created by Yvette Guilbert and performed by Maurice Donnay. 

Yvette Guibert, the vivacious, scintillating Parisenne, who sets all male hearts beating faster and evokes an 'oo la la' of admiration.

"Les Vieux Messieurs - The Old Gentlemen - is one of the most famous compositions that Lautrec drew for Joubert's series of song-sheets in 1894. The pose of the midinette, the errand girl with the hatbox, the emphasis on the expressive shape of her figure, the gleam in the expression of the old man giving her the eye, and the handling of the chalk drawing itself, contrasting shading with open line, show the typical genius of Lautrec's drawing." (feolifineart.net)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

"Some of Lautrec's earliest commissions for work in lithography came from the publishers of song sheets, such as Joubert or from Lugne-Poe for illustrated programs for his avant-garde Theatre Libre. The song sheets were the equivalent of the popular songs of today. When visiting a music hall it was possible to buy the music and words of the days popular songs. The publishers of these songs came up with the idea of illustrating the front of the folded music sheet (music and words) with an image in original lithography. Lautrec drew some of the most interesting of his early compositions for such projects. Because of the ephemeral nature of these song sheets (many got damaged or simply thrown away) original examples have become rare, especially in the complete form with the words or music." (feolifineart.net)