Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is … one of the most significant artisitic figures, and it’s quite a task to write about this artist. I’ve read a lot of materials about him, and now reading a book by Henri Perruchot who is mentioned as a source for Wikipedia article in French about Lautrec, which is a good reference, and I like a comment on Amazon:

This book started my obsession with art…Perruchot book usually very informative, but not too emotional, but this one has both qualities to it.

The book is written in a simple manner, but the author says that he studied the life of Toulouse-Lautrec in debth, talked to many people and collected a lot of information, so I tend to trust this source; at least in a sense of actual facts it must be close to being accurate. In any case, I believe that art speaks for itself, and reading about the life of an artist can be both helpful (it helps to understand the subject better) and harmful (it distracts attention from clear perception of the artwork). I am intentionally making this post before I finished reading the book; later I want to add other posts about Toulouse-Lautrec.

I’ve decided to make and post videos to a special ArtsRegion channel on YouTube because video is an easy way to look through many paintings. Here is today’s video up to the topic:

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec started several artisitic trends, which later were adopted by many other artists. Lautrec perfectly mastered working with a pencil and colors; he can be named among people who invented “simplified graphics”, which later influenced the 20th century art. He lived a life, which could be described as traditionally associated with artists: full of personal drama (he could not walk well due to his childhood and actually genetic disorder and he could not pronounce some sounds), low lifestyle morals (he spent a lot of time with prostitutes) and intoxication (he abused alcohol). These issues alone could cause a negative image of Lautrec, which… would be wrong. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a highly talented and sensitive person who perceived and created beauty in an exceptional way. Lautrec also had bright imagination and quick mind, and did not seem to have problems with leading conversations or being welcome everywhere around; it’s possible to say that on public he seemed to be quite a happy person.

Those basically are the main general things we need to know about his personality. Some more information can be read here in Wikipedia. Now, let’s see the art by Toulouse-Lautrec and explore his artistic world. My post will give perspectives on three fields of artistic expression by Lautrec, which I give special credits to.

Moulin Rouge

Among most impressive creations by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are dancing scenes from Moulin Rouge. They are special by the matter of what Lautrec brought to art by those scenes. That was not simply about new places and new characters. It was about new feelings from the surrounding world, which were wider adopted afterwards, in the 20th century: life as a crazy carousel, which takes you away, and one cannot see and cannot breathe in the speedy tempo of it. And since it is so short, painful and generally senseless, this sort of living makes the ultimate sense.

At least, this is what I recognize in his Moulin Rouge paintings, by which I generally mean any paintings of public events with dancing and socializing people.

It was the end of the 19th century, and this was the time when there happened wider introduction of secular values, and what was considered impossible and inappropriate just a few decades ago, became a social entertainment, and then mixed up. Figures by Lautrec dance beyond dancing; they say: we have come here to buy entertainment, to sell entertainment, and to forget about time and limits.

Lautrec’s own situation was in the center of this approach. His easy living was only a surface because underneath was the truth that any person could recognize: he still was disabled, and his life could lead to nothing, but close end. Then finally it happened to Lautrec, and it was after all a better choice than having no direction and no power to connect to the world.

Now, look at the special colors that the paintings have: the colors seem to communicate this life of being taken by some cold flame. That’s why probably Lautrec loved painting light on the faces, as if the light came from bottom to top.

Posters

Posters by Toulouse-Lautrec are considered among those works of art that heavily influenced the 20th century.

Before Lautrec’s contribution, posters were thoroughly painted in details, but Lautrec got the core of posters, and made them bright, filled with big figures and having fewer details so that nothing could distract the viewer from getting the idea.

Actually, a lot of art in the 20th century followed a simplified view. For example, one of the most favored 19th-20th centuries artists nowadays, Henri Matisse, (who I can’t say I really like) is known for his direct and simple way of depicting objects. From my viewpoint, simplification does not ensure a lot of artistic merit (it does at a certain point, but compared to greater contribution it has minor value in my personal scale), but Lautrec was the first figure who made things look so much simpler.

Said that, posters by Lautrec do have their own feeling of his touch. I think that it makes them even more valuable than just their relative visual simplicity.

Brothel

Brothel is another huge part of artwork by Toulouse-Lautrec that impresses me a lot. And of course, what especially does, is the way how Lautrec brought the topic to the stage. His models are not evil, and neither are they saint. They are just typical outsiders … but are they really different from normal people? They have their little joys, and suffer from simple troubles just as any person, even though such troubles can be essentially different.

And they also have their own confidence and pride, feeling of leisure, boredom and independence.

Basically, they do exist and that alone must be respected. Surely their vision of love and relations is deviant, but they still do need love, which they cannot get in their profession.

This wisdom behind the everyday activities performed by them strikes more than any artificial political matter could do.

Finally, I think it is necessary to say about visual specifics of the artwork by Lautrec. Works by Lautrec are always sharp by their idea and by their visual implementation. Look at this prostitute: every bit of expression of her face is recognized even though she looks in a different direction.

Every line by Lautrec is persuasive and well attributed to the depicted individual. When Lautrec used colors, he made them new and influential. Like in this example: visually dark figure is contrasting to the pink ladies, and that gives the feeling of no valid restrictions.

Hands, figures and faces are always special no matter how many people are present. Some faces and poses are grotesque to give them more expression. Lautrec had no fear for doing anything he felt was right in painting and drawing, and that is why he was a great artist who established new artistic rules.

2 Responses to “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: celebrations nearing bitter end”

1. Eva says:

   June 12, 2010 at 10:11

   I remember an image from the publication: a cold flame illuminating the face from the bottom up – the idea as if the light from top to bottom is found a very good mental image of a face in the painting “At the Moulin Rouge” – and in the face and in its definition, in my opinion, is concentrated the way, that goes from Lautrec to the present, and this way is exactly from a cold flame to the blackout.
2. Eva says:

   June 12, 2010 at 10:12

   I think that publications with a fresh perspective on the art are important. Earlier publications assessed works of artists in a different way, and several decades ago it still could was impossible to see what we can see now. Now we can evaluate the intuitive apprehension of artists of the last century.