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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Essay

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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was arguably the greatest graphic artist of his time; he is best remembered for his bold, colourful posters of
Parisian entertainers. His childhood years were spent at his family chateau in the southwest of France where he broke both of his legs and therefore stunted his growth. This left him ill proportioned and dwarfish. This unfortunate event probably helped his artistic ability as he spent most of his time on his own.

Lautrec was at his peak as a painter and poster artist in the early
1890's at the time of the post impressionists.

During his life Lautrec felt most comfortable in the nightclubs, dance halls and brothels of Paris. The narrow life he led is clearly shown …show more content…

The first picture I have chosen to talk about is Lautrec's first important painting, which is called 'At the Circus Fernando' which was painted in 1888. The painting includes his favourite clown Cha-u-kao who he painted many times before. This early example of Lautrec's caricature and graphic style shows the ringmaster and a bareback rider at one of the famous Montmatre circuses. The people at the Moulin
Rouge thought so highly of the painting that it was hung in the dancehall from the opening night. The exaggerated features and silhouetted suit tails of the ringmaster make it look as if he has been cut out and stuck down in an appropriate position on the circus floor. I admired this painting because I liked the way he incorporated the sense of movement into the painting by firstly painting the horse when it was in the middle of a stride with its hooves in the air and secondly how he painted the rim of the circus in a curve, which gave a good effect. I was attracted to this painting because it is full of life and colour. Lautrec uses bright colours when he is painting the seating and the background, which contrasts with the relatively dull colours of the ringmaster and horse. Lautrec makes the dancer on the horse stand out by painting a dull green entrance wall behind the strong yellow hair of the dancer, which attracts your attention. I thought it was clever how he puts a bit more life into the painting

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