Verified Document

Post Impressionism And Toulouse Lautrec Term Paper

Post Impressionism and Toulouse-Lautrec Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi, France on November 24, 1864 to an aristocratic family. After breaking both his legs in separate accidents, it was discovered he had an inherited bone disease, and his legs never grew to their full potential. He enjoyed art, and in 1885, he began to exhibit and published his own work. Toulouse-Lautrec's work was exhibited throughout Paris and included exhibitions at the Salon des Independents in Paris and Les XX in Brussels, Belgium. At the age of 36, he died of alcoholism and syphilis on Sept. 9, 1901.

The nightlife in Paris impressed Toulouse-Lautrec and he incorporated this lifestyle into his paintings. He was also exposed to the controversial new style that was developing: it was called impressionism. Toulouse-Lautrec was similarly intrigued by edouard Manet's open-air paintings and the work of Edgar Degas, especially his depictions of dancers, horse races, and city life. Toulouse-Lautrec soon met Vincent van Gogh. They quickly became friends and even worked together occasionally. They were influenced by many of the same ideas about art, and both had tempestuous inner lives that they longed to commit to canvas. The two painters nonetheless developed very different styles.

The 1880's saw Toulouse-Lautrec auditioning a variety of styles. Many of his early paintings, including a portrait of his mother reading, are reminiscent of the impressionist paintings of the day. Another key influence of this time was Japanese art. Toulouse-Lautrec adopted many of the elements of Japanese prints and they included decorative patterns, broad...

He utilized these artful concepts in his work, Cirque Fernando: The Equestrienne. It demonstrates a major shift from impressionism, as well as the suggestion of paintings by Georges Seurat and Paul Gauguin (Discovery Biography, 2004).
By 1888, however, Toulouse-Lautrec had developed his own spontaneous, brilliant colorful techniques and signature style. He employed a free style of brush stroke and favored long sweeping outlines. His colors were usually bold and brilliant and included the colors of greens, oranges, and highlights of red. Sometimes he used color for emphasis, applying it with little regard to how it actually appeared in the scene he portrayed. This was an important innovation that influenced later artists.

He had a fascination with the reality nightlife of Paris became the subject of many of his paintings. He worked to capture the lives of the prostitutes, dancers and circus performers of fin de siecle Paris. This influence can be seen in the dynamic slant of space, the flat areas of color with no shadows or modeling, and the unusual way he cropped his scenes. These characteristics appear in the 1892 painting, At the Moulin Rouge (Friedman, 2004). He sometimes worked from photographs and often invited photographers into his studio. There, around 1889, Toulouse-Lautrec was captured painting one of his most famous works, La Dressage des nouvelles also, recognized as the Moulin Rouge.

Poster art was the rage during the early 1890's and Toulouse-Lautrec was captivated by the possibilities of the new era. He created posters to advertise entertainers…

Sources used in this document:
References

Friedman, Ann. "Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de." World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. World Book, Inc. 25 Mar. 2004. http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar562500.

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec." U*X*L Biographies. U*X*L, 2003. Reproduced in Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC.(Document Number: CD2108102277).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec." DISCovering Biography. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Reproduced in Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC.(Document Number: CD2102101841).

Les femmes de Toulouse-Lautrec. (1992). Life, 15, 76-82.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Compare Vienna and Paris in the Decade 1900-1910
Words: 2497 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Vienna and Paris in the Decade 1900-1910 Vienna and Paris in the Decade 1900-1910 Europe of 1900 -- 1910 saw the rise of several cultural meccas, including Vienna and Paris. Vienna was a center of literary, cultural and artistic advancement in "middle" Europe, enjoying booming population and innovative developments in all those spheres, even as it endured the rising tide of anti-liberal, anti-Semitic Christian Social forces. In keeping with this innovation, Vienna's

Art the Late 19th Century
Words: 1181 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

In Spirit of the Dead Watching, Gaugin also depicts a Tahitian woman with open sexuality. The woman in Spirit of the Dead Watching lays prostrate on a bed, exposing her naked buttocks while gazing directly at the viewer. Her position is submissive, in spite of the alluring look in the woman's eyes. The spirit of the dead represents traditional Tahitian religious beliefs, which would have been in direct conflict

Paintings, Colors and Self-Portrait Introduction
Words: 14235 Length: 50 Document Type: Research Proposal

Pissarro took a special interest in his attempts at painting, emphasizing that he should 'look for the nature that suits your temperament', and in 1876 Gauguin had a landscape in the style of Pissarro accepted at the Salon. In the meantime Pissarro had introduced him to Cezanne, for whose works he conceived a great respect-so much so that the older man began to fear that he would steal his

Paintings of the French Impressionists
Words: 1098 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Monet used brushstrokes and many shades of vivid greens and pinks to portray the garden as if it were viewed through a mist. In 1910, English writer Roger Fry coined the phrase "post impressionism" as he organized an exhibition in London (Shone, 1979, p. 9). Just as the paintings of the impressionists caused a scandal in the art world some forty years earlier, the post impressionist work of artists such

19th Century Art During the
Words: 2176 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

Four men stand out as the penultimate figures of Post-Impressionism, namely, Georges Suerat (1859-1891), Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), Paul Gauguin (1843-1903) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), all of whom at first accepted the Impressionist methods and then moved away from it toward a new type of painting. In the case of Cezanne, the basis of his art had much to do with studying nature in a new way, for his aim

Art Influence of Japanese Art on Western
Words: 3463 Length: 13 Document Type: Term Paper

Vincent Van Gogh, Frank Lloyd Wright and Madeleine Vionnet. What did this 19th century artist, architect, and fashion designer share in common? Very simply: They all incorporated Japanese techniques into their works of genius. When Commodore Perry opened the doors to this Eastern country in 1853, an abundance of unique and influential styles of art rushed out and captured the imaginations of artists throughout the Western world. As author Emile

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now