Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec "La Tige, Moulin Rouge" Lithograph

A French Art Nouveau lithograph "La Tige, Moulin Rouge" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The work, as with many of Lautrec’s crayon lithographs, is imbued with a spirit of tongue and cheek euphemism and satirical caricature. La tige was slang for a cigarette. Lautrec depicts the eponymous cigarettes in the mouths of two behatted men in the background. In the foreground, a lady in profile wears a squirrel stole. As squirrel was the cheapest of furs, she can be identified as a member of the working class. Her kohl-rimmed eyes and black bow mark her as a sex worker, a member of the demimonde.