The injury that closed Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's path to high society, became the impetus for his creative takeoff.
Count with short legs
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was born in 1864 into an aristocratic family. His parents separated after death youngest son, when the future artist was four years old. After his parents' divorce, Henri lived on his mother's estate near Narbonne, where he studied horse riding, Latin and Greek.
Toulouse-Lautrec belonged to the oldest family in France. These were educated people who were interested in the politics and culture of their country. Thanks to family passions, the little count developed an interest in art very early. The boy had no less love for horses and dogs, already with early years He was engaged in horse riding and, together with his father, took part in hound and falconry hunts.
His father wanted to raise Henri to be an athlete, so he often took him with him to the races, and also took his son to the studio of his friend, the deaf artist Rene Princeteau, who created brilliant portraits of horses and dogs in motion. Father and son took lessons together from this acclaimed artist.
At the age of 13, Henri got up unsuccessfully from a low chair and broke the femoral neck of his left leg. A year and a half later, he fell into a ravine and suffered a fracture of the femoral neck of his right leg. His legs stopped growing, remaining about 70 centimeters long throughout the artist’s life, while his body continued to develop.
Some researchers believe that the bones slowly grew together and the growth of the limbs stopped due to heredity - Henri’s grandmothers were each other’s sisters.
By the age of 20, he looked very disproportionate: a large head and body on the thin legs of a child. With a very short stature of 152 centimeters, the young man bravely endured his illness, compensating for it with an amazing sense of humor, self-irony and education.
Toulouse-Lautrec said that if it were not for injuries, he would gladly become a surgeon or an athlete. His studio had a rowing machine on which he loved to exercise. The artist told his friends that if his legs were longer, he would not paint.
Henri's family had a hard time coming to terms with their son's illness: the defect deprived him of the opportunity to attend balls, go hunting, and engage in military affairs. Physical unattractiveness reduced the chances of finding a mate and procreation. Henri's father, Count Alphonse, lost all interest in him after the injury.
But thanks to his father, who loved entertainment, Lautrec attended fairs and the circus from an early age. Subsequently, the theme of the circus and entertainment venues became the main one in the artist’s work.
All the family's hopes were pinned on Henri, but he could not fulfill them. At the age of 18, the young count, trying to prove to his father that his life was not over, went to Paris. Throughout his subsequent life, relations with his father were strained: Count Alphonse did not want his son to dishonor the family by putting his signature on the paintings.
Artist of the windmills of Montmartre
The movement in which Henri de Toulez-Lautrec worked is known in art as post-impressionism, which gave rise to modernism or art nouveau.
During treatment for fractures, Henri drew a lot, devoting much more time to this than to school subjects. His mother, Countess Adele, desperately sought to cure her son, took her to resorts, hired the best doctors, but no one was able to help.
At first, he painted in an impressionistic manner: he was admired by Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, and, in addition, Japanese prints served as a source of inspiration. In 1882, after moving to Paris, Lautrec visited the studios of academic painters for several years, but the classical precision of their paintings was alien to him.
In 1885, he settled in Montmartre, a semi-rural suburb with windmills around which cabarets began to open, including the legendary Moulin Rouge.
The family was horrified by their son’s decision to open his studio in the center of the area, which was beginning to gain fame as a haven for bohemia. Soon, at the insistence of his father, he took a pseudonym and began signing his works with an anagram of the surname “Treklo”.
It was Montmartre that became the main source of inspiration for the young painter.
Henri withdrew from communication with people of his circle, increasingly surrendering to a new life: he moved into the world of Parisian bohemia and the “demimonde”, where he finally found the opportunity to exist without arousing close curiosity. It was here that the artist received powerful creative impulses.
Lautrec's work developed its own own style– a little grotesque, deliberately decorative. It is no coincidence that he became one of the pioneers of the art of lithography (printed poster).
In 1888 and 1890, Lautrec took part in exhibitions of the Brussels “Group of Twenty” and received the highest reviews from the idol of his youth, Edgar Degas. Together with Lautrec, famous people took part in them French artists- Renoir, Signac, Cezanne and Van Gogh. It was the 90s of the 19th century that became the time of the brilliant dawn of the art of the artist Toulouse-Lautrec.
Toulouse-Lautrec's creative life lasted less than two decades - he died at 37 years old. But his legacy is considered one of the richest: 737 paintings, 275 watercolors, 363 engravings and posters, 5084 drawings, as well as sketches, ceramics and stained glass.
Despite the lifetime hostility of critics towards the artist, a few years after his death a real calling came to him. He inspired many young artists, including Picasso. Today, the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec continues to attract artists and art lovers, and prices for his works continue to rise rapidly.
“Just think, if my legs were a little longer, I would never have taken up painting!”– Toulouse-Lautrec once exclaimed, as if he himself was struck by this revelation.
Oh, he had no equal in the skill of self-irony! After all, it was she alone who was able to protect him from the unprecedented cruelty of fate.
Epigraph to all life Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) The lines of the famous ballad by Robert Rozhdestvensky could serve as:
“On Earth there lived a mercilessly small man, and there was a small man.”
That's right - small. After all, this circumstance haunted him, not allowing him to forget for a second about his unenviable lot. But what a life this was!
Many people in the arts have experienced a turning point in their lives, followed by either triumph or complete overthrow. Henri had two such fractures. And - alas! - in the most literal sense of the word. They did not happen in the heat of a hot pursuit of game through the forests of the family estate, and not as a result of an accident, although in a sense his illness was a disaster. It’s just that one day, rising from his chair, fourteen-year-old Henri collapsed as if he had been knocked down. Severe femoral neck fracture. Endless doctor visits, casts, and crutches followed. And this was just the first blow. A few months later, he fell while walking and broke his second leg. Inevitable misfortune clouded the cloudless horizon of the Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa family. Exactly what Countess Adèle Tapier de Seylerand feared when she married her cousin, the boy’s father, happened. An undeserved punishment for something he did not do fell upon Henri at such a time. early age. It was then that the life of Little Treasure, as everyone at home called him, took a turn for the worse. sharp turn and was forever separated from the path that was assigned to him at birth.
The boy, cheerful and lively by nature, yearned, imprisoned in plaster, like a bird in a cage. And he drew and drew. This activity was always his consolation and joy. It remained with him even now, when it finally became clear: he would not be a worthy successor family traditions. For Henri’s father, it was now as if his son did not exist, since he could not ride horses and take part in the hunt. And this, according to the deepest conviction of the count himself, was the main occupation of a true aristocrat. Henri confided all the sadness and melancholy, not intended for prying eyes, to paper. He painted thoroughbred horses, their graceful necks and chiseled legs - all this with a feeling and skill that was absolutely amazing for his age.
What could he do? At that time, he was still a Little Treasure - an active, slightly mischievous, but lively and sensitive boy. He started games and sang songs as if nothing had happened, and filled the walls of his native estate with laughter. Even if at times this laughter resembled sobs. In their house in Bosque, he went again and again to the wall on which his cousins made pencil lines to mark their heights, and each time his own disappointing results depressed him. Households nicknamed this ill-fated corner “the wailing wall.”
But pity was something he always avoided. The inability to take part in the fun of other children and the consciousness of his own powerlessness forced him to improve his drawing with special care. The result of 1880 alone was more than three hundred drawings and sketches.
Even then, with sad clarity, he realized the alienation of those close to him. Another confirmation of this was the portrait of his father on horseback. Captured in his favorite Caucasian costume and with a falcon on his hand, the count looks incredibly distant and alien, and his figure, occupying the central part of the canvas, is overwhelming. This is how the father remained for the artist - unattainable, incomprehensible, absorbed only in his passions.
The attempts of some researchers to portray Lautrec as an embittered short man, a lustful satyr Pan, hunting for beautiful nymphs, are fruitless and surprising. Yes, women were a special line in his biography. But to say that all of Lautrec’s paintings are dedicated to cabaret beauties would be, at the very least, reckless. Before Henri met the night side of Paris, he experienced many years of creative quest.
His first ally and friend in the world of painting was Princeteau - himself a very extraordinary person. The thirty-seven-year-old animal artist became attached to the awkward teenager with all his heart, perhaps because he himself understood him very well - Princeteau was deaf and mute. It was his dynamic, strange style of writing, and in addition, his irrational attachment to Henri, that inspired him to continue his studies.
He entered the workshop of Leon Bonn, who was very in demand and popular at that time, as an apprentice. The mentor's academicism and commitment to traditions often became the subject of jokes among his students. Here, Lautrec’s exuberant talent, under the pressure of Bonn’s dry manner, was “instilled”, the colors became more faded, the sketches became more strict.
And yet, among his newfound comrades, Henri flourished. He charmed his friends not only with his hospitality, but also with his friendliness, willingness to support any joke, and easy-going attitude. The young nature resisted everything ordinary, calibrated to the millimeter and proclaimed as an ideal. The seventh exhibition of the Impressionists, which opened not far from their studio, was on the lips of Bonn students. It was then that Lautrec became convinced that discipline and perseverance alone would never be enough to break out of the ranks of artists doomed to forever paint commissioned portraits of noble ladies.
After the dissolution of the Bonn workshop, he felt free. This also applied to painting - the works painted in the summer of 1882 at the Seleyran estate began to sparkle with color again. But among them there were already those in which Lautrec sought to present human vices in the most unsightly light.
With his return to Paris, another stage of his life began, which revealed Lautrec to the world as the general public first recognized him. I had to withstand another blow - the loss of my name. Caring for the honor of the family, the father insisted on a pseudonym. This is how the anagram “Tracklo” appeared on Henri’s canvases. And this to some extent freed him from the burden of responsibility, but at the same time it hurt his pride. So, he’s not nice to his family like this? Let it go! The free life was already making my head spin. What does it matter that a short man like Lautrec could not get the sincere love of some beauty? He joked blithely about this, like many other things, between two glasses of something stronger with his comrades in the next cafe. Laugh at yourself before it occurs to someone else - that’s what life taught Little Treasure.
Cormon's workshop, where Lautrec settled, as if especially for the creative youth who visited it, was located on one of the streets that had access to the busiest places of Montmartre, which was beginning to come to life. Here, from night to dawn, life was in full swing - and what a life! Montmartre was a motley gathering at that time - a shelter for all renegades, dark personalities, fallen women and thrill seekers. Here, in this eternal child, Lautrec found his niche. And even though his awkward figure still stood out from the crowd and was recognizable, here he did not feel as abandoned as in the company of people of his circle. Once again, periods of feverish work gave way to revelry, and sometimes combined. Lautrec painted with incredible speed wherever inspiration struck and on what came to hand. At a cheerful student party in an album, a burnt match on a notebook sheet in the twilight of a cabaret. The life in full swing around me beckoned and demanded that I capture it immediately, immediately.
The desire to depict all the shortcomings of human appearance penetrated into many drawings of 92-93, made in the most famous cabarets of Paris. The unbridled morals of these small worlds with their air electrified with lust, the greasy glances of the gentlemen and the dissipation of the ladies were transferred to the plane of his drawings, without losing a drop of authenticity. These broken, grotesque images of dancers, an amazing palette and incredible expression helped fulfill Lautrec’s long-standing dream - he became recognizable, guessable at first sight. Scandalous, but still fame, overtook him.
Although today, when talking about Lautrec, most people remember his posters, especially with Jeanne Avril, or, at worst, Bruant, a singer and part-time owner of one of the cabarets. But meanwhile, even paintings with similar plots turned out to be infinitely different. One has only to look at the paintings of that period - “The Beginning of the Quadrille at the Moulin Rouge” (1892), “Two dancing women at the Moulin Rouge" (1892) and, finally, "Jeanne Avril leaving the Moulin Rouge" (1892).
"The Beginning of the Quadrille at the Moulin Rouge" (1892), "Two Dancing Women at the Moulin Rouge" (1892) and, finally, "Jeanne Avril Leaving the Moulin Rouge" (1892).
It is quite obvious that even they differ from each other in literally everything - from the mood to the expressiveness of the strokes.
One thing in his painting remained unchanged. Portraits of the mother, made in any year, are full of the most tender filial love. And almost everywhere Countess Adele looks like just a tired woman who has suffered many blows of fate. Her son's hobbies must have added a lot to her gray hair. She always remained his guardian angel, even realizing that Henri was not given the opportunity to find simple human happiness.
There was still a grain of truth in the speculation about the similarity with the satyr. The naturally affectionate and gentle young man grew up with the knowledge that his love would never be reciprocated. He drowned his need for consolation in wine, looked for friends and found short-term solace in the arms of sophisticated priestesses of love. But it was all a painful “wrong.” Then he painted, sometimes all night long. And I found an outlet in this. Of course, women interested him. By drawing cabaret dancers, he partly touched upon the possession of the forbidden fruit.
And yet... Those who really knew Lautrec closely sometimes noticed what suffering the simple inability to live normally brought him. His fascination with the nightlife of Montmartre was dictated not by extreme perversity, but by despair.
Perhaps he was in desperate need of salvation. But none of wide range friends could not prevent the inevitable. An attack of delirium tremens after one of the loud celebrations in the artist’s house became a dire warning. The period of treatment, accompanied by acute repentance, was short-lived. Soon sleepless nights with copious libations and exhausting work returned again. Health, which had previously withstood the most insane revelries, began to deteriorate.
The short, crazy, full of the most contradictory phenomena, the life of Toulouse-Lautrec could have been completely different. Just think, if he had been born under different circumstances, the world would never have seen one of the most eccentric French painters, his unique vision. But the mocking fate decreed otherwise. Strange, awkward, brilliant, he flashed across the firmament of art - and burned to the ground, striving for the impossible.
On September 8, 1901, he died in his arms the only woman that she truly loved him all her life - her mother.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, biography, interesting facts from the life of an impressionist artist and paintings in between. Henri was a very curious person. The story of his life is no less interesting than his paintings. Lautrec is an artist of night cabarets and the Moulin Rouge in particular. It was the Moulin Rouge cabaret that served as a springboard for Lautrec to fame.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, biography, family and childhood.
So, imagine, here lives a family of these standard, self-satisfied aristocrats. Cousin Alphonse (father) married to cousin(Mother). Well, without incest, it’s an aristocracy. Mom is quiet kind woman, from the series fast, pray, listen to radio Radonezh.
Dad is an exemplary eccentric aristocrat, a kind of crazy horseman, the life of the party, a lover of falconry and blackjack and whores of entertainment. According to rumors, he also loved eccentric antics a la Salvador Dali. If you believe Wikipedia, then love for prostitutes, alcohol, fairs, circuses and glitz Henri de Toulouse Lautrec the younger owes it to the elder.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, biography. Attitude to the artist’s work in the family.
However, nothing human is alien to aristocrats; Henri’s father and mother were educated people and good draftsmen. In the Lautrec houses there was a lot of stuff different paintings, drawings and sketches, and drawing was a frequent pastime. 
Alphonse Lautrec’s friends also included Rene Princesteau, a skilled artist of all kinds of hunts, dogs and horses, from whom father and son often took lessons. It was René Princesteau who first noticed the talent Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and taught him the art of quick sketching and drawing life in motion.
All this, however, did not stop the father from reproaching his son for daring, unscrupulous, to become an artist. A descendant of an ancient family, he makes money (this alone is terrifying) by daubing canvas. Disgrace. Okay, okay, maybe I’m distorting a little - my father was a distinguished lover of painting, and in Lautrec’s work he was rather outraged by Henri’s manner as an artist and the objects of the image (well, prostitutes, cabaret performers, etc.). As they say, there is an impressionist in the family.
Biography of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, childhood and illness
So, in this family, where the husband changes women like gloves and poisons the unfortunate animals with falcons, and the mother quietly prays, a poor fellow is born Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. These circumstances alone could not have a positive effect on the child’s psyche. The hyper-protection of the mother and numerous castle servants also left their indelible imprint.
As a child, Henri, just like his father, loved to ride horses and chase animals. However, he did not differ in physical development and was often sick. Nevertheless, he was smart as a kid and studied well. I was especially good at languages: Latin, English, everything. And everything would be fine, but at the age of 14 he falls and breaks his leg. Tellingly, he falls off his chair.
Obviously, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was sick with some kind of hereditary disease, like Lobstein's disease (crystal bone syndrome). This is followed by a long period of rehabilitation, all sorts of sanatoriums, Nice and people in white coats. And so, after a long recovery, a little more than a year later, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec the Younger falls again, this time into a ditch and again breaks his bones. Amazing luck. These injuries, as well as a possible genetic disease, led to “dwarfism” - the lower limbs practically stopped growing. Which saddened my father beyond words. 
He was counting, in the end, on a worthy successor to the family, who would do things worthy of an aristocrat - i.e. chase partridges, beat up frivolous high-born ladies, marry advantageously, and then die to fight for your homeland. Now hunting, balls and many other useless social entertainments of the aristocracy were inaccessible to Henri. But, every silver lining is without a beaver, as the artist himself said: “surprisingly, if my legs were a little longer, I would never have started painting.” During his illness, his passion for painting finally took over Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. Then he painted mainly his surroundings: animals, nature and relatives.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec in Montmartre.
Soon, the artist, together with his mother, moved to Paris, where he studied in the workshop of Leon Bonn, by the way, a fairly good portrait painter. Bonna, a stern academic mastodon, despite all the zeal and reverence of Henri, however, did not appreciate Lautrec’s talent. Leona soon dissolves her workshop and Henri moves to study with Fernand Cormon (the same one with whom Van Gogh studied). Although Cormon himself gravitated toward academic painting, he still held broader views than Bonna. 
At the age of 19, the artist decides that it is time and moves to Montmartre. This is where Henri de Toulouse Lautrec goes into all sorts of troubles, doesn’t leave the taverns for days on end and works all day long, drawing prostitutes, circus performers, artists and regulars, not forgetting to drink liters of wine. Henri's second home was the Mirliton cabaret, and its owner Bruan was one of his best friends. Toulouse Lautrec shuttled between hot spots in Montmartre: Cha Noir, Moulin de la Galette, Mirliton.
The artist lived to the fullest, trying to drown out disappointment in himself with the brilliance of Montmartre, drawing and alcohol. heartache due to his physical defect. However, among the motley crowd of the demimonde, the artist felt like he belonged; Montmartre of that time, this refuge of assorted outcasts, tramps, freaks, artists and rakes, became a real home for the artist.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and the Moulin Rouge cabaret.
This is how Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, in fact, lived: he painted, was in an alcoholic haze, and periodically visited nature somewhere on the estate. Lautrec's paintings, however, were not particularly popular until Joseph Oller decided to open the Moulin Rouge. Lautrec's real fame as an artist began with the poster of this cabaret.
Henri's style, with its laconicism, brightness and subtle psychologism, could not be more suitable for a graphic poster. After Lautrec’s posters, crowds of people flocked to the Moulin Rouge, and the artist himself was known to no fewer people than the cabaret legend La Goulue. We can say that Moulin Rouge owes its success, not least to Lautrec. Henri was even given a separate table in this cabaret, where other visitors could not sit. 
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, syphilis and the last days.
Here he should settle down, get some vicious model wife and rest on his laurels, drawing pictures and posters. But, as often happens in this case, wine and an inferiority complex got in the way. Or maybe Lautrec was simply unlucky and that’s why he never met his “ “?
Be that as it may, the years of pouring alcohol down our throats were not in vain. In addition, trips to prostitutes, which the artist loved so much, also brought a gift. As always, suddenly, one of the prostitutes (Red Rose) infected Henri de Toulouse Lautrec with syphilis. And maybe the body could cope, people live with syphilis for many years until their nose falls off, and some even sometimes recover. For reference, spontaneous recovery from syphilis occurs in 30% of cases. But this only applies to the acute form. The artist, however, was unlucky - years in an alcoholic haze and lack of sleep weakened his immunity.
Attempts by relatives to cure Henri's alcoholism failed. After treatment at the Toulouse clinic, Lautrec soon began drinking again. As they say, I’m sad and sad when I’m sober, and I’m happy when I’m drunk. The ending is, of course, a little predictable. Gradually, Henri’s balls began to go behind the rollers due to syphilis and alcoholic psychosis. He became irritable and paranoid and began to hallucinate.
In the end, Lautrec suffered a stroke, after which the artist was paralyzed. Their last days he lived in the hospital as a half-crazed invalid. There, Henri suffered another, again, stroke. They say that last words the artist's poems were "The Old Fool", apparently addressed to his hated father. Such things.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and women. Charlet, Valadon and the Red Rose of Lautrec.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec had no luck with women. Well, which of the aristocratic young ladies would want to spend their lives as a dwarf? Therefore, Henri had to be content with prostitutes and models. Henri's first woman was Marie Charlet, a 16-year-old model who was slipped to him by Luca (one of his friends). Yes, yes, gentlemen, in those days a 16-year-old whore did not surprise anyone. And not only in France, guys, don’t indulge yourself in illusions. The main thing is to continue to cry for lost spirituality.
Actually, after this, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec’s campaigns among prostitutes began. Prostitutes, however, adored Henri, because the artist was kind, gentle, witty, courteous and saw prostitutes not so much as prostitutes, but simply as women. There were also some timid romantic attempts to strike up relationships with women from his circle, but the end was a little predictable: “let’s remain friends.”
For real serious relationship the artist had with Suzanne Valadon. An attractive model who had affairs with half the artists in Paris. However, this romance lasted only a few years due to the nasty and quarrelsome nature of both individuals.
Another woman in the life of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was Red Rose, the same prostitute who infected him with syphilis. Lautrec, however, out of the goodness of his heart, never blamed Red Rose for his illness. It is not known for certain what exactly connected Red Rose and Lautrec - just a regular client or, perhaps, a lover, a friend? A mystery shrouded in darkness. 
Such things. I think Lautrec’s problems with women were caused not only by physical imperfection, and not even so much by it, but by an inferiority complex. After all, he is not such a freak as he is described as. Well, yes, far from handsome, well, a dwarf. But he is witty and the life of the party. Are there a few freaks who have had success with women? Have you ever seen Diego Rivera? Yes, Lautrec is a handsome playboy compared to him.
Are there not many women who don’t pay too much attention to appearance? It is clear that not a single aristocrat would connect her life with a dwarf, but Toulouse Lautrec, with his fame, money and hanging tongue, could very well find himself a normal woman among the demi-monde of Montmartre.
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, film
Laughter through tears - this is how this film can be briefly described. An excellent biographical film that quite accurately describes the artist’s life and reflects the spirit of that era. I highly recommend it. I liked the film
Lautrec, Lautrec, France, 1998 - full title. You can download it you know where.
Biography and iconic works modernist.
Japanese sofa
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901)
Parisian life
Toulouse-Lautrec Coming from a wealthy aristocratic family, he suffered from a congenital bone disease since childhood, which eventually made him crippled. In the 1880s, he came to Paris with his parents. Here Toulouse-Lautrec begins his art education. He meets Emile Bernard (1868–1941), a future famous artist. Close acquaintance with members of the Nabi group - Bonnard and Vuillard - made Toulouse-Lautrec become interested in magazine illustration. Together with them, the artist begins to work for the popular magazine “Ta Revue Blanche”.
Despite the fact that Toulouse-Lautrec was a wealthy man, he settled in a studio in Montmartre, a poor and unsafe, but cheap Parisian area where many artists lived or rented studios. Life in Montmartre became for the artist an inexhaustible source of subjects associated with visitors to cafes and low-class brothels, with the strange nightlife that many lived here. Toulouse-Lautrec led a lifestyle that challenged all bourgeois values. The artist often depicted dancers and prostitutes who became his friends. He soon began drinking and died at the age of 36.
"Moulin Rouge"
Moulin Rouge
The work of Toulouse-Lautrec is extremely individual, although it should be noted that there was a certain influence that the works of Bonnard had on him. In numerous portraits taken at the Moulin Rouge, Toulouse-Lautrec captured the famous Louise Weber (1866–1929) and her partner Jacques Renaudin (1843–1907), nicknamed La Goulue (lagoulu - glutton) and Valentin Desosset. The Moulin Rouge cabaret opened in 1889 and soon became a famous nightclub. This was partly thanks to Jeanne Avril (1868–1943) and Yvette Guilbert (1867–1944), whom Toulouse-Lautrec immortalized in drawings and paintings. People probably came to see La Gulya, who got their nickname because of their monstrous appetite. Lautrec was disgusted by the hypocrisy and insincerity of bourgeois society; he valued the company of people from the working class much more. Because of his appearance - a sloppily dressed person short, often drunk, Toulouse-Lautrec looked like a member of the lower class. Like those cabaret girls with whose images this artist is associated in our imagination, he never avoided curious glances and in public became very lively and cheeky.
Promotional poster for cabaret
Poster for Aristide Bruant in the cabaret
Aristide Bruant (1851–1925), like Toulouse-Lautrec, came from a very wealthy family who found his homeland in Montmartre. In Parisian artistic cabarets, Bruant gained fame by regularly appearing at the Black Cat, a very scandalous night establishment that opened in 1881. The beginning of Aristide Bruant's stellar career was his performances in two famous cabarets - “Eldorado” and “Ambassador”. It was then that Bruant asked Toulouse-Lautrec to make a poster, and they soon became friends. By the time he created the poster for Bruant, Toulouse-Lautrec had achieved fame through his work in the field of printed graphics. Although he was a wealthy man, the artist was proud of the fact that he received money for his art and even had a separate bank account for royalties. His main employer, who ordered his posters and posters, was the company Boussod, Valadon & Cie. They also organized his first personal exhibition in 1895. The work of Toulouse-Lautrec was shown more widely in 1898 at an exhibition of his printed graphics and easel works in London, which was organized and financed by a company associated with the Goupil Gallery.
Jeanne Avril
Jeanne Avril
Probably the most famous of all Toulouse-Lautrec's characters was the dancer Jeanne Avril. She first appeared on his cabaret poster "Japanese Sofa". Here Avril watched the night performance. Then Toulouse-Lautrec portrayed her dancing in the Moulin Rouge. The graceful figure of Jeanne Avril with a wasp waist was fully consistent with the Art Nouveau style and formed a noticeable contrast with La Goulue. Most of advertising posters the dancer ordered it herself.
Often, advertising posters were reproduced as lithographs, printed in limited editions on high-quality velvety or Japanese paper, and sold as expensive collectibles. This practice was common among art dealers of the era, who were eager to take advantage of the high demand for art of this kind. Jeanne Avril, like other close people of Toulouse-Lautrec, was well aware of his addiction to alcohol, and the artist contracted syphilis. All this exacerbated his extravagant eccentric behavior. From time to time, Toulouse-Lautrec settled in one or another brothel. Although alcoholism shortened his life, he managed to create almost a thousand paintings and watercolors, as well as about 300 sketches of advertising posters and other printed materials.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Life and creativity. updated: May 11, 2018 by: Gleb