Sarah Bernhardt (From Portraits d'Acteurs & d'Actrices)

c. 1906

9 1/4 x 11 1/2 in /
22.9 x 27.9 cm

First Edition of approximately 400 impressions
Printed in black on beige wove paper

Sarah Bernhardt is probably shown here in the play Les Mauvais Bergers (The Wicked Shepherds) that had opened in Paris on 15 December 1897. The drawing on the stone was made at the beginning of January 1898, for Lautrec wrote to the British publisher W.H.B. Sands on the 14th of that month that he was going to send him ‘a Sarah Bernhardt with the text.' The image was then used as part of the Portraits d'Acteurs & d'Actrices portfolio, with brief written monographs by Arthur Byl accompanying each image.

References: Wittrock 249, Adriani 260