“May Belfort, whom [Lautrec] represented in at least ten works, had gained a reputation for corrupting innocence by appearing onstage dressed as a baby holding a black kitten in her arms, and ‘meowing or bleating’ her popular song, 'Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow-Wow,' whose lines had a double meaning which was not lost on the French-speaking audience: ‘I’ve got a pussycat, I’m very fond of that’” (Frey, p. 382). This would have been particularly amusing for the audience, as Belfort was in an openly lesbian affair with the English dancer May Milton.  Being a true "original," Lautrec was known to suddenly go crazy for someone who amused or distracted him.  The artist was so delighted by the Irish performer's ridiculous act that he designed a poster for her. It is a sensitive piece that shows far more artistry than one would normally expect to see in a commercial assignment.  The artist used four separate lithographic stones and crachis, or spattered ink, to realize the deceptively simple, bold composition - an oblique line creates the illusion of a stage, a flat red block for her gown catches the eye, and the delicate paintbrush and pen work helps create a sensitive portrait of the performer standing before the footlights and singing with her cat. It is a delicate image which shows Lautrec at his best. A preliminary study painted for this poster was shown (no. 25) at the Exhibition of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Louvre, 1910), and (no. 139) in the H. De Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition held at the same Museum in 1931; it also appeared in the Manzi-Joyant Exhibition in 1914. The poster itself was shown at the Exposition Internationale d'Affiches (Reims, 1896).

In 1891, Toulouse-Lautrec had decided to investigate the potential of lithography. Working with Pierre Bonnard's lithographer Ancourt, he learned the craft from the bottom up and within months, brought it to an unprecedented artistic zenith. He managed to cram some 400 lithographs into the remaining ten years of his life, 31 of which were posters, and all of which were the cream of graphic design. His masterpieces define the limits of poster style: where Jules Chéret epitomizes a completely external, impersonal viewpoint, Toulouse-Lautrec is the embodiment of internal, personal vision with a point to make - not, to be sure, a moral judgment, but rather an amused, wry observation on the passing scene. Once he became immersed in Paris nightlife, entertainers became his primary subject matter, but he was also known to create portraits and caricatures for many of his friends. He skillfully used lines and color to subtly imply background or props for his characters, and these touches incorporated reality with the already present warmth and charm in his posters.