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Father of pop art

Toulouse-Lautrec's deformity did not rob him of his passion for life, and his zest is reflected in his brightly coloured works

REVELRY Toulouse-Lautrec's celebrated work At the Moulin Rouge

John Leguizamo played him in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. Though the film is about the painter Christian, and his passion for the courtesan Satine, it is set in the belle epoch, the turn of the century in Montmarte, the seat of the bohemians, it would have been a travesty if the film did not feature Toulouse-Lautrec, who was the very soul of bohemian Paris. With his brilliantly painted lithographs, posters and portraits of the dance halls, the cabarets, the racetracks and the nightclubs, Toulouse-Lautrec was one of the most artistic documenters of the time.

While he was all about fun, wild partying and carousing — effectively setting the template for today's Page 3 circuit, Toulouse-Lautrec was serious about his art. An important post-impressionist artist, he also contributed illustrations for the magazine Le Rire. On the other hand, he did not shun unorthodox commissions — his graphic art could be seen advertising books, bicycle chains, confetti, biscuits, exhibitions, menu cards and theatre programmes. Toulouse-Lautrec can be considered the father of pop art.

He started painting at time when there was a lot happening in Paris — from the opening of the World Fair, lit up with electricity and the completion of the Eiffel Tower to the flourishing interest in Japanese and other art forms and the opening of the famous night club Moulin Rouge.

The only child and heir of an ancient royal family, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on November 24, 1864 in Albi, France. His father, the aristocratic Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse, was handsome and eccentric. He would wash his socks in the river, go hunting in outlandish costumes, and just disappear for long stretches of time.

Toulouse-Lautrec's parents were first cousins. The inter-marrying to keep the property within the family had resulted in genetic diseases. Toulouse-Lautrec had a condition where his bones did not heal properly. He broke his left thighbone when he was 12 and his right when he was 14. The bones did not heal as a result of which his legs never grew properly. He had the torso of a fully-grown man while his legs were that of a child. He was only four-and-a-half-feet tall.

His deformities did not rob him of a zest for life. Every night he would be at the nightclub laughing and drinking with friends and sketching all the time. He would return home to expand the sketches into brightly coloured paintings.

Toulouse-Lautrec was an alcoholic most of his adult life — moving swiftly from wine and beer to whisky and famed absinthe. He was admitted to a sanatorium but he died on September 9, 1901, when he was just 36. His father appeared at his deathbed and though the others were surprised at the Comte's appearance, Toulouse-Lautrec said: "Good, Papa. I knew you wouldn't miss the kill." His last words, "Old fool," were addressed to his father.

MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER

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