Toulouse-Lautrec- The Creative Class 2

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901, was a French painter, printmaker, draftsman, and illustrator.

At the age of 13 Henri fractured his left thigh bone, and at 14, the right. The breaks did not heal properly.

His legs ceased to grow, so that as an adult he was only 1.54 m (5 ft 1 in) tall, having developed an adult-sized torso, while retaining his child-sized legs, which were 0.70 m (27.5 in) long.

But don't worry too much about his height, Lautrec, is also reported to have had hypertrophied genitals.

Toulouse-Lautrec was drawn to Montmartre, an area of Paris famous for its bohemian lifestyle and for being the haunt of artists, writers, and philosophers. In 1881 Rodolphe Salis opened a new cabaret called the Chat Noir (“black cat”) at the foot of Montmartre’s hill. The name called to mind Edgar Allen Poe’s perverse and haunting tale by the same title, French folktales, and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. The black cat—a nocturnal creature that is mysterious, seductive, playful, and independent—became a symbol not only for the Chat Noir itself, but for all of Montmartre. The Chat Noir became a gathering spot for avant-garde artists, poets, musicians, and writers, who used the cabaret as an artistic laboratory to recite poems, sing songs, and exhibit paintings.

Publicity posters, made possible by the lithographic technique, were an important innovation of the artists of Montmartre. Lithography, a printing process in which images are drawn on a large stone, allowed Lautrec to utilize a skillful integration of text and image. When the nearby Moulin Rouge cabaret opened its doors, Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to produce a series of posters. Lautrec’s first foray into printmaking was a resounding success. His print Moulin Rouge: La Goulue fueled the popularity of La Goulue and made Lautrec an overnight sensation in Montmartre. Thereafter, the cabaret reserved a seat for him, and displayed his paintings. Among the well-known works that he painted for the Moulin Rouge and other Parisian nightclubs are depictions of the singer Yvette Guilbert; the dancer Louise Weber, known as the outrageous La Goulue ("The Glutton"), who created the "French Can-Can".

Toulouse-Lautrec spent much time in brothels, where he was accepted by the prostitutes and madams to such an extent that he often moved in, and lived in a brothel for weeks at a time. He shared the lives of the women who made him their confidant, painting and drawing them at work and at leisure. Lautrec recorded their intimate relationships, which were often lesbian. A favourite model was a red-haired prostitute called Rosa la Rouge from whom he allegedly contracted syphilis.

An alcoholic for most of his adult life, Toulouse-Lautrec was placed in a sanatorium shortly before his death. He died from complications due to alcoholism and syphilis at the family estate in Malromé, fewer than three months before his 37th birthday. He is buried in Verdelais, Gironde, a few kilometers from his birthplace.

-The Medical Inspection at the Rue des Moulins Brothel. 1894, NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, DC

Throughout his career, which spanned less than 20 years, Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolors, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and an unknown number of lost works. Toulouse-Lautrec is known along with Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gaugin as one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period. He excelled at capturing people in their working environment, with the colour and the movement of the Parisian night-life. He was masterly at capturing crowd scenes in which the figures are highly individualised. At the time that they were painted, the individual figures in his larger paintings could be identified by silhouette alone, and the names of many of these characters have been recorded.

Toulous-Lautrec's skilled depiction of people relied on his painterly style which is highly linear and gives great emphasis to contour. He often applied the paint in long, thin brushstrokes which often leave much of the board on which they are painted showing through. Many of his works may best be described as drawings in coloured paint.

After Toulouse-Lautrec's death, his mother, Comtesse Adèle Toulouse-Lautrec, and Maurice Joyant, his art dealer, promoted his art. His mother contributed funds for a museum to be built in Albi, his birthplace, to house his works. As of 2005, his paintings had sold for as much as US$14.5 million.

EXTRA SPECIAL ART HISTORY BONUS BECAUSE YOU KNOW DECOY

The invention of the Tremblement de Terre or "Earthquake", is attributed to Toulouse-Lautrec. a potent mixture containing half absinthe and half cognac. The name is derived from its effects, which tend to "shake up" the drinker.

mix:
3 parts Absinthe
3 parts Cognac