Although Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is today one of the most influential and famous artists of all times, there are many aspects of his life that even his admirers might not know. A brilliant artist, with a strong, original style, Toulouse-Lautrec was at the same time a controversial character, a heavy drinker, a promiscous person and by all means a tragic figure. Marked by the accident which caused his diformity, he took his refuge in art, and at the same time he proved to be a mighty strange man.
His pet was a cormorant, which he took everywhere with him on a leash. He named it Tom and even taught the bird to drink absynth. Unfortunatelly, the pet was later killed in a hunting accident.
When he rented a summer house in Taussat, the landlord complained that he artist exhibits his works in the garden, works which were obscene and lacking any talent of common sense. It seemed that Toulouse-Lautrec wasn't very appreciated here.
Salon at the Rue des Moulins
On a trip to Holland, due to his diform phisique, he was mistaken for a circus midget and cruely taunted and laughed at by several children. Hurt and enraged, the painter left Holland, never to return again.
He used to never anounce his exhibitions, hold them in his studios or purposely mistake the adress on the invitations, even for his friends. Like a game.
Several dozens of his paintings were given to a certain doctor Billard, who had the stupid idea of selling them for several glasses of wine each, in some sleazy bars and joints. A great mistake, which Billard would live to regrete. Deeply. Many of Toulouse-Lautrec works were therefore lost. While others were used by the cleaning lady of Dr Billard - the frames for firewood, the canvases as washcloth.
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At the Circus Fernando
When he visited his friend Vollard and missed him - he was out - Toulouse-Lautrec left a business card in his own style : on the back of a study by Vollard he drew a small, cringed and diform man. Without a name, without any more info. Yet Vollard recognised his friend.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was also a major draftsman, one of the best in those times, and provided several series of book illustrations, which sadly were not paid or appreciated as they should have been. His greatest project were the illustrations for a Jules Renard book, a splendid edition of Histoires Naturelles, for which Toulouse-Lautrec provided no less than 30 works. He visited the Zoo, even brough a toad home to study it. Yet, the rare edition - only 100 copies were printed - was a major failure and ended up being sold at a small price. Who known what it might value today.
A heavy drinker - an extremelly heavy drinker - Toulouse-Lautrec just couldn't keep his hands off the bottle. When his friend insisted, he lied and told everyone he was decided to give up his most beloved vice. And for a while everyone was convinced : the painter didn't touch even one glass. A miracle ? He looked better, and even bought and impressive cane, with a large silver end, although it seemed a little to thick for the frail little man. It was this big for a reason : it held around half a litter of booze in his silver end. So now Toulouse-Lautrec had the alcohol with him at all times. An ingenious idea.
Shortly before his death, as in a last goodbye, he would return to his studio in Paris, and went through all of his works that were kept there, completed or not, from paintings and studies to drawings. He chose what he thought was good enough, marked them with his famous monograph, and left the studio for the last time.
Photo : wikipedia.org
2008-08-20
