Toulouse-Lautrec is a post-Impressionist painter and graphic artist who recorded the life of music-halls, cafes, and brothels in Paris. A brilliant draftsman and lithographer, he worked more often in watercolor and pastel than in oils. His primary interest was in form and in movement; the confident use of line and the flat planes of color in his lithographs owe a clear debt to Japanese prints. The technique is echoed in his oils, where he used thin paint and purposefully left much of the board unpainted. The son of a sporting Count of ancient lineage, he was crippled as a child and began drawing during his convalescence. He studied with Bonnat (1883) and with Corman (1884), when he met Van Gogh. In 1884, he established a studio in Montemarte and plunged into the nightlife, sketchbook in hand; he taught himself but was considerably influenced by Degas. He exhibited in Brussels with Les Vingt from 1887 and at the Salon des Independants from 1889. In the 1890's, he took up lithography producing some superb posters, notably for Artistide Bruant's cabaret, and working for various publications. In 1895, he made first of several visits to London, where he knew Wilde and Beardsley. He was highly sensitive to jibes about his stunted growth and drank heavily; in 1899 his health collapsed and he retired to a nursing home. From this period dates his series of circus pictures. After recovering, he lived mainly in Bordeaux, working industriously, but he died two years later. Not greatly appreciated in his lifetime, his work began to gain international renown after the retrospective exhibition at the Goupil Galleries in 1914. There are works in most museums of modern art and at his birthplace, Albi.
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