Divan Japonais

1892–93

Lithograph printed in four colors, 80.8 × 60.8 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A dancer in black sits in the audience while a singer performs on the stage above. Both women were stars of the city's nightlife.

The singer's head is cut off by the frame, yet she is known by her long black gloves alone. A performer's trademark detail worked like a brand.
It was made to advertise a Montmartre café-concert of the same name.
Look at the orchestra pit, where instrument necks rise between audience and stage.
Broad areas of flat black and yellow come from just four printed colors.
It entered the Met in 1958 as a bequest of Clifford A. Furst.

The seated dancer is Jane Avril, one of the artist's favorite subjects, with the writer Édouard Dujardin. The singer on stage is Yvette Guilbert.