EARLY in his career as a poster designer the hallmark of Toulouse-Lautrec's style was simple outlining. This is seen in the strident contours of the Aristide Bruant posters of 1892 and 1893. Later his drawings on the lithographic stone became generally richer, freer, and more varied.

Lautrec used a wide range of ink colors, such as deep violet, turquoise, curry yellow, pink, and olive-brown, obtainable from the ink manufacturing firm Charles Lorrilleux, whose name is printed in the lower margin of The Chap Book (Detail) of 1895.

Although color lithography by his day could accommodate dozens of colors in one print, Lautrec usually chose only four or five, occasionally six, and on rare occasions eight. Rather than using a multiplicity of colors, he preferred to create his effects by subtle juxtapositions and modulations. A detail from the poster reveals a variety of techniques used to create the scenic effects of mirrors, glaring interior light, spaces, and surfaces.

Frequently Lautrec made use of the technique of crachis (from the French for "spit") to modulate color and create a sense of atmosphere.

The 1891 poster Moulin Rouge (Detail) shows the use of a grille à crachis, (an iron screen across which a stiff brush loaded with ink is scraped) to neutralize large areas of the yellow floor with blue spatter.

In the 1893 poster Divan Japonais (Detail), he used a mechanically patterned transfer screen of dots to differentiate the unlighted orchestra from the dramatic lighting of the stage, where a denser crachis was applied.

The 1895 History of Napoleon I (Detail) makes remarkable use of crachis to achieve a painterly vibrancy of color, while integrating the figures into their surrounding atmosphere.

In Le Tocsin (Detail) and L'Aube (Detail),two posters of 1896, a heavy, atmospheric effect of darkness is achieved by a tint stone, i.e., a layer of transparent ink laid down before the image was printed.

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