HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC WAS SOMETHING OF AN ANOMALY IN THE WORLD OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY PAINTING. BORN INTO AN ANCIENT ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY,HIS ABNORMALLY SHORT STATURE AND SEVERE LIMP MEANT HE WAS AN OUTSIDER FROM CHILDHOOD ON.ONLY IN THE STREETS OF MONTMARTRE DID HE FEEL AT HOME, AMONG THE DREGS OF PARIS, THE DRUNKARDS AND DEBAUCHEES WHO WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM WITH A PITYING EYE. YET HIS HANDICAP GAVE HENRI THE COOL, INCISIVE, CRITICAL GAZE OF AN OUTSIDER--WHICH HE USED TO DEVASTATING EFFECT IN HIS SKETCHES, PAINTINGS, AND POSTERS, CRUELLY ACCURATE PORTRAITS OF THE VICE AND HYPOCRISY OF A DECADENT FIN DE SlI~CLE SOCIETY.

HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC WAS SOMETHING OF AN ANOMALY IN THE WORLD OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY PAINTING. BORN INTO AN ANCIENT ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY,HIS ABNORMALLY SHORT STATURE AND SEVERE LIMP MEANT HE WAS AN OUTSIDER FROM CHILDHOOD ON.ONLY IN THE STREETS OF MONTMARTRE DID HE FEEL AT HOME, AMONG THE DREGS OF PARIS, THE DRUNKARDS AND DEBAUCHEES WHO WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM WITH A PITYING EYE. YET HIS HANDICAP GAVE HENRI THE COOL, INCISIVE, CRITICAL GAZE OF AN OUTSIDER--WHICH HE USED TO DEVASTATING EFFECT IN HIS SKETCHES, PAINTINGS, AND POSTERS, CRUELLY ACCURATE PORTRAITS OF THE VICE AND HYPOCRISY OF A DECADENT FIN DE SlI~CLE SOCIETY. His WORKS TAKE ALL OF LIFE AS THEIR SUBJECT, FROM THE CIRCUS TO THE BROTHEL, FROM A GIRL IN HER FIRSTCOMMUNION DRESS TO A TIRED OLD CLOWN DRESSING FOR HER SHOW, FROM CYCLING RACES TO ELEGANT RIDERS IN THE FOREST ROUND PARIS. HE MAKES NO ALLOWANCES FOR GOOD TASTE, FOR DECENCY, FOR KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. HIS ARTISTIC GAZE NEVER WAVERS.HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC’S WORK REVOLUTIONISED LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART.HE WAS ONE OF THE EARLIEST ARTISTS TO BRING ART OUT OF ITS ELITIST SPHERE AND INTO THE WIDER PUBLIC ARENA, PRODUCING MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATIONS, DECORATED BACKDROPS FOR A FAIRGROUND BOOTH, AND EVEN ADVERTISING POSTERS FOR BICYCLE CHAINS.HE BROUGHT ART CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE THAN IT HAD EVER BEEN BEFORE.LIKE HIS CONTEMPORARY, VINCENT VAN GOGH--ANOTHER ASTONISHING ARTISTIC VISIONARY--HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC DIED AT THE AGE OF THIRTY-SEVEN.LIKE VAN GOGH.  HE LIVED ACCORDING TO HIS OWN RULES AND HIS OWN MORALITY.NOT JUDGE THE GAMBLERS, PROSTITUTES, AND DRUNKARDS HE PAINTED;WORK IS, IN THE END, A CELEBRATION OF LIFE IN ALL ITS RICH DIVERSITY.

Petit-Bijou stops growing...

The Temptation of Impressionism

The World"s a Stage

Henri"s Women

The Party"s Over