(After) Henri Toulouse Lautrec

Divan Japonais, from Les Maîtres de l’Affiche

December 1895

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant and provocative images of the modern, sometimes decadent, affairs of those times. Toulouse-Lautrec is among the best-known painters of the Post-Impressionist period, with Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. As a young child, his parents separated after the death of his brother and a nanny eventually took care of him. At the age of eight, he went to live with his mother in Paris where he drew sketches and caricatures in his exercise workbooks. The family quickly realized that his talents lay in drawing and painting. Due to improper healing of two leg fractures, as an adult he was extremely short (4' 8"). He developed an adult-sized torso, while retaining his child-sized legs. Physically unable to participate in many activities enjoyed by males his age, Toulouse-Lautrec immersed himself in art. He became an important Post-Impressionist painter, Art Nouveau illustrator, and lithographer, and, through his works, recorded many details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris.