Aristide Bruant in his Cabaret

In his songs Aristide Bruant (1851–1925), a popular Parisian cabaret singer, glorified the working class using the language of the streets. He wanted to shock his bourgeois audiences and would often stroll through the café insulting and harassing the delighted crowd. In this poster, Toulouse-Lautrec captures this aspect of the performance. Bruant gives his back to the viewer and looks over his shoulder with an expression of arrogance and disdain.