Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Essay -- Visual Arts Paintings Art

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was arguably the greatest graphic artist of his time; he is best remembered for his bold, colourful posters of Parisian entertainers. His childhood years were spent at his family chateau in the southwest of France where he broke both of his legs and therefore stunted his growth. This left him ill proportioned and dwarfish. This unfortunate event probably helped his artistic ability as he spent most of his time on his own. Lautrec was at his peak as a painter and poster artist in the early 1890's at the time of the post impressionists. During his life Lautrec felt most comfortable in the nightclubs, dance halls and brothels of Paris. The narrow life he led is clearly shown in the art that he produced. Lautrec was best renowned for his paintings of the Moulin Rouge and other Parisian entertainers. Lautrec was not the first artist to make the Parisian entertainers serious subjects to paint, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degaswere among the first to paint the Paris nightlife and others soon followed their lead like Lautrec. Although Lautrec's many paintings looked spontaneous and carefree he as never "slapdash" as in he was never messy or careless. He was in fact a dedicated craftsman who knew a lot about the technical matters of his work, especially printmaking. Even after a rough night he would be up to supervise the printing of his lithographs bright and early. Lautrec always carried a small sketchbook with him so he could quickly draw or sketch whatever caught his attention and today thousands of his rapid drawings still survive in the original sketchbooks. He has also reached the elevated position of a dead artist where there is a museum dedicated to him and his work in Albi, France close to where he was born near Toulouse. In the actual paintings of his sketches he tried to keep the spontaneity of the first sketch and therefore liked to work quickly. To work fast he liked to use paint that was thinned considerably with turpentine, which was called peinture a l'essence, which allowed him to so called 'draw with the brush'. He also liked to use absorbent cardboard instead of canvas so the paint would dry quicker and therefore could maintain his momentum. Most painters have a trademark technique and Lautrec's trademark was the printmaking technique called 'crachis' or ... ...reas before this addition the painting must have been a restrained and balanced masterpiece. The unidentified redhead sitting at the table is wearing an exotic headdress that stands out magnificently against her red hair. If you look at each person they each have a distinctive hat or hairstyle as Lautrec was fascinated by different styles of headwear. The mirrored background that lines the walls gives the painting an undefined background so the silhouetted figures stand out boldly in the mirror. I liked this painting because it shows the somewhat quiet of the normally busy Moulin Rouge. The way Lautrec contrasted the brightly painted woman and the redhead at the forefront of the painting with the blacks and browns of the background also attracted me. I also admired the way Lautrec maintained the spontaneity all through his work. My favourite painting of the two that I have talked about is 'At the Moulin Rouge' because I think that this one looks more difficult to paint than 'At the Circus Fernando' as it is in greater detail and most importantly I think it looks better. But take nothing away from 'At the Circus Fernando' as this is also a brilliant piece of art.