Fascinated by the redheaded singer Marcelle Lender and her flamboyant cabaret act, Toulouse-Lautrec depicted her repeatedly, even obsessively, between 1893 and 1898. This rapid sketch captures the charged atmosphere of the music hall and the allure of Lender's performance, with brisk strokes of blue pencil emphasizing her gaudy eye shadow and accenting her droll and knowing expression. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Signed with monogram at lower right: "HTL".
Sevadjian, S., former owner.
Kroller, M., former owner.
Hanley, T. Edward, former owner.
Hanley, Tullah Innes, former owner.
Molnar, Elizabeth, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 384, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 105.