 The young count Henri
Toulouse-Lautrec, who was quite small and suffered from a limp, was not
born to a traditional military career. His parents recognised his talent
for drawing at an early stage and he was allowed to receive artistic
schooling. After a romantic/academic education, Henri soon felt attracted
to the city life of Paris with her avant-gardists such as Cézanne and,
more especially, Degas. He felt at home in Montmartre, with its humour,
irony and its fancy dress parties so typical of the fin de siècle. He was
a regular customer of the cabaret bar "Le Mirliton" and for its owner, the
singer Aristide Bruant, he designed wall paintings and magazine covers. It
was the poster for 'Le Moulin Rouge', though, which brought him instant
fame in 1891. He executed his compositions, with their unusual perspective
and radical cut-outs, in contrasting colour schemes and flamboyant style.
After a number of very productive years Toulouse-Lautrec appears to lose
his grip on life. In 1893 his friend and housemate Dr. Gourges got married
and for the first time in his life he has to stand on his own two feet.
Alcohol increasingly takes over his life and he becomes withdrawn and
paranoid. A short stay in a psychiatric clinic is of no help and two years
later he dies in his parental home, the Chateau de Marlome in Albi, at the
age of thirty-six. |
