Hardcover American 1st Edition of "Toulouse-Lautrec: His Complete Lithographs and Drypoints." Written by Jean Adhemar, published in New York by Harry N. Abrams. Contains 368 illustrations, 54 in full color. The first major compilation of his complete lithography and drypoint which includes fine prints, posters, illustrations, book jackets, sheet music, menus, and many other forms. Bound in orange cloth lettered in white and gilt, spine lettering white and gilt.
Size: 13 1/2 x 10 x 2 1/2 in.
#7576 #44 .
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, known simply as Toulouse-Lautrec, was born on November 24th, 1864 in Albi in the south of France. Born into aristocracy to parents who were first cousins, the death of his younger brother led to their separation, and Toulouse-Lautrec went to Paris to live with his mother at the age of eight. He drew sketches and caricatures in his exercise workbooks, and was given informal art lessons by a friend of his father, René Princeteau. He broke both femurs at the age of thirteen and, possibly due to the rare condition pycnodysostosis, was very short as an adult, developing a normal torso while retaining his child-sized legs. During a stay in Nice his progress in painting and drawing impressed Princeteau, who persuaded his parents to allow him to study under the Parisian portrait painter Léon Bonnat in 1882. He was drawn to Montmartre, the area of Paris known for its bohemian lifestyle and the haunt of artists, writers, and philosophers, and rarely left it over the next twenty years. Toulouse-Lautrec moved to the studio of Fernand Cormon after his time with Bonnat and studied for a further five years, establishing a group of artistic friends he kept for the rest of his life that included the writer Émile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh. While roaming the streets of Paris for inspiration during this period he had his first encounter with a prostitute, a subject that became a regular feature of his future work. In 1885 Toulouse-Lautrec met Suzanne Valadon, and made several portraits of her while supporting her ambition as an artist. It is believed that they were lovers and that she wanted to marry him, and when their relationship ended Valadon attempted suicide in 1888. His first exhibition of work was in 1885 at the cabaret of Aristide Bruant’s Mirliton, after which he participated in an exposition in 1887 in Toulouse using the pseudonym “Tréclau.” In 1888 the Belgian critic Octave Maus invited him to present eleven pieces at the Vingt Exhibition in Brussels, and for the next five years Toulouse-Lautrec took part in the Salon des Indépendants regularly. In 1890 he challenged the artist Henry de Groux to a duel for criticizing van Gogh’s works, and De Groux apologized for the slight and left the artist’s group. By the late 1880s his growing alcoholism and increasing affinity for brothels and prostitutes was beginning to affect his health as much as his work. His favorite brothel was located in Rue d’Amboise, where he created about a hundred drawings and fifty paintings inspired by the life of the women. His favorite subject and lover was named Mireille, and he referred to models as “stuffed dolls” as opposed to prostitutes who he said were “alive.” When the Moulin Rouge cabaret opened in 1889, Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to produce a series of posters for them, and reserved a permanent seat for him and a wall to display his work. His mother had left Paris and, though he had a regular income from his family, making posters offered him a living of his own. In the mid-1890s he contributed several illustrations to the magazine Le Rire, and traveled to London on commissions for posters. He met and became a vocal supporter of Oscar Wilde during the latter’s imprisonment, and Oscar Wilde in turn helped him gather together a book of Toulouse-Lautrec’s original recipes for food and alcohol that was published posthumously. In 1899 he collapsed from exhaustion, and his family had him committed to Folie Saint-James, a sanatorium in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He drew 39 circus portraits from memory in the three months he was there. After his release, he returned to the Paris studio and traveled throughout France, but both his physical and mental health declined rapidly due to alcoholism and advancing syphilis. On September 9th, 1901 Toulouse-Lautrec died at his mother's estate, just thirty-six years old. After his death his mother and his art dealer, Maurice Joyant, continued promoting his artwork, and created a museum to show his works that still stands today. He is considered one of the most important painters described as being Post-Impressionists, along with Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat. His paintings now routinely sell for millions of dollars, and his impact on the early development of posters and advertising is unrivaled. His immersion in the colorful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th Century allowed him to produce over 6,000 enticing, elegant, and provocative images of the decadent events of those times that have continued to remain popular and inspirational long after his short (no pun intended) life.
