Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa
When we think today of the Mont march of the late 19th century, the Moulin Rouge, the dancers of Khan-Kan and life in cabarets, surely the first big name that comes to mind is that of Toulouse Lotrek.
Today marks 150 years since the birth of the subversive artist who gave a new twist to the history of art, the creator who – despite the short period of his life, (he died at the age of just 37) – has been one of the pioneers of postimpressionnisme.
Innovative in pictorial perception and technique, Toulouse Lotrek breathed new life into the image. A careful witness and faithful observer of the Parisian night and the vulgar pleasures, without the moral barriers and prejudices of his time, he revealed the hidden truth of a particular human fate. He was the most alive, and the most original of the “decadent period”
Through his work, history found the poet of an era, who sketched the artistic life and customs of the late 19th century Parisian night, based, however, on the immediacy of his own senses.
Its creation reflects the ephemeral brilliance, anxiety and sadness of the “Bel epic”, which, with its cheap circus, theatre, burlesque, even brothels, wanted to offer a way out of the problems faced at that time by France, which was coming out humiliated by the Franco-Russian War and was shocked by labour movements and claims.
In his work, the female figure dominates dominant and imposing.
“Primarily a painter of women, Lotrek is attracted to the small everyday acts, the fleeting attitudes he captures naturally, while they occur:
It creates an admirable range of portraits, from the whore to the coffee vendetta – sandan, from the worker to the lady, from the actress to the aristocrat… Sitting on a coffee table in a corner, he sketches countless scenes of hasty sketches that are completed the next day and become paintings or lithographs.
A portraitist with extreme sensitivity lurks the “emergence of personality”, without misogyny and without a moralistic look, but in search of the essence of the true, the genuine, the human”.
He is considered the creator of the poster, because the first poster released in 1891 for “Moulin Rouge” was his creation and was a huge success.
Engraver, lithograph painter left huge work an incredible theme, with technical perfection and graphic elegance. He killed the world, society, understanding the characters with subtlety and respect!
Nana Latsi
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa
