Mlle. Marcelle Lender, en buste (Bust of Miss Marcelle Lender)

Toulouse-Lautrec was deeply interested in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. He collected beauty prints by Utamaro, and had volumes of Hokusai’s Manga, or sketches. Even his “T-L” name seal, seen here in the lower border and in the upper left of the image, was based on Japanese seals he saw on prints. Perhaps he was also encouraged by a major subject of ukiyo-e, women entertainers and sex workers, to make this a recurring subject of his paintings and prints—a theme considered scandalous in late-19th-century Paris. In this image of the popular singer and dancer Marcelle Lender, Toulouse-Lautrec also borrows the bust portrait, or ōkubi-e 大首絵, used in Japan for images of popular actors, entertainers, and courtesans.