Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec
Born – Albi, France 1864
Died – Gironde, France 1701
Toulouse-Lautrec was born into an aristocratic family. He began to study art in Paris in 1882 and was working in a studio in Montmartre by 1885. He became part of an artistic circle which included Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. The local theatres, café-cabaret bars, the circus and low-life scenes of prostitution provided subject matter which he translated into paintings and lithographs. From 1888 he was critically acclaimed and exhibited regularly at the Salon des Indépendants from 1889, working under the influence of Degas, and of alcohol, which was to cause his death. From 1890, the Moulin Rouge informed the work for which he is most popularly known. His paintings and particularly his posters advertising the Moulin’s dancers and performers confirmed his reputation as an artist of wit, movement and energy. He was a master of characterization and a major influence on upgrading the poster to an art-form. Woman at her Toilet is an unusually tender painting, probably of a prostitute as he disliked posed models. It shows his draughtsmanship and rapid brushwork at its best, the chalkiness of the paint on cardboard being reminiscent of pastel.
Masterpieces:
- At Rue Des Moulins
- At the Moulin Rouge
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About henri marie raymond de toulouse lautrec
Masters of Art: Toulouse-Lautrec
Douglas Cooper
Buy on Amazon
Toulouse-Lautrec.
Douglas Cooper
Buy on Amazon
Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life (Phoenix Giants)
Julia Frey
Buy on Amazon