***March 2005*** |
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Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
November 24, 1864 – September 9, 1901
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in southern
France the son and heir of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse,
who was the last in the line of an aristocratic family that
dated back a thousand years. As a child, Henri was weak
and often sick, but by the time he was ten years old he
had already begun to draw and paint.
At age twelve Henri broke his left leg and
at fourteen his right leg. The bones did not heal properly,
and his legs ceased to grow. When he reached maturity he
was of normal size but with abnormally short legs. He was
only 4 1/2 feet (1.5 meters) tall.
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Deprived of the physical life
that a normal body would have permitted, Toulouse-Lautrec
lived completely for his art. He moved to Paris in 1882 where
he lived in Montmartre, which was the center of the cabaret
entertainment and bohemian life that he loved to depict in
his work. He studied at various studios and soon became friends
with fellow artists Emil Bernard and Vincent Van Gogh. He
soon broke away from traditional learning after seeing the
Impressionists work, especially that of Degas.
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| Toulouse-Lautrec became immersed in the bohemian
lifestyle. In the evening he would sit at a crowded nightclub table,
laughing and drinking and sketching throughout the night. The next
morning in his studio he would transform his drawings into paintings
and lithographs.
In order to fit in with the Montmartre regulars - as well as to
fortify himself against the crowd's ridicule of his appearance -
Toulouse-Lautrec began to drink heavily. By the 1890s the drinking
was affecting his health.
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After 1897, the artist spent more of his
time in the bars than in his studio. In 1899 he had a severe
nervous breakdown and was confined to a clinic for three
months. He tried to recover his health during stays at sea
resorts on the Normandy and at the Atlantic coast but could
not stop his abuse of alcohol. His health slowly deteriorated
and he was once again admitted to a sanatorium.
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In 1901 he suffered a stroke which left him with partial
paralysis. He was then taken to the home of his mother where,
a few days later, on September 9, he died at the age of
36
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