“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
He was born to a noble family. There is evidence of inbreeding in his family genealogy, including his mother. As a teenager, Henri broke both his right and his left femur (the bones in his thighs). Neither healed properly, and medical science of the time being what it was, an accurate diagnosis is difficult to say. Basically, as an adult, Henri had the torso of an adult man, and the legs of an undersized boy. It was possibly a complication from his childhood accidents, possibly a result of his family’s inbreeding, or just a straight up form of dwarfism related to growth hormones. Regardless, his life was not easy. He dealt with his physical misfortunes by drinking quite heavily, and basically living full time at a brothel in the area of the famous Moulin Rouge burlesque club in Paris.
Let’s not mince words. He was a sodden drunk with dwarfism that spent all day and all night in the company of strippers and prostitutes.
When he wasn’t piss drunk or balls deep, he passed his time by sketching, drawing, and painting. Some of his best sketches were done on the table cloths and placemats of the Moulin Rouge. Life forced a status of physical limitations upon Henri. He became possibly the best gesture and figure artist of the 19th century.
He died young of a combination of syphilis and alcoholism. Go to the Met in NYC. They have a whole exhibit dedicated to how good this guy was at rendering body language and casual conversations.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,La Toilette
1889, Oil on cardboard, 67x54 cm
Art print available
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“Although at the time the theme of a woman at her toilet was often treated, especially by Mary Cassatt and Bonnard, it was above all the naturalist influence of Degas which dominates in this painting by Lautrec. The neglect of the academic pose and the accelerated perspective rather unusual in Lautrec’s work sound like an echo to the series of women at their toilet that Degas presented at the eighth and last Impressionist exhibition in 1886. The framing of the scene and the high viewpoint bring to mind the masterly pastels by Degas whom Lautrec deeply admired. Like his elder, Lautrec showed women “without their frills” as if he were “peeping through the keyhole”. However, he differs from Degas in the humanity with which he observed and painted them.”
