#5: The Avant Garde Lautrec
On my pursuit to learn more about a particularly interesting artist of the avant garde period, I found an article entitled "Toulouse Lautrec Biography 1864-1901" about the French Impressionist on http://www.artelino.com/articles/toulouse_lautrec.asp. As I read the article, I found my prior knowledge from the MCM 102 class helpful in fully realizing and appreciating Lautrec's life and works.
He was born into an aristocratic family but never participated in aristrocratic activities due to a disability that inhibited the normal development of his legs. Thus, he delved into his own world of painting. He did not appreciate the conventional art of Van Gogh but the more Impressionist art of Degas. Impressionism could be defined as art whose role is to present a subjective impression rather than an objective reality. For the subject of his art, Lautrec would portray the essence of Parisien nightlife and sketch scenes of the caberets, dance halls, brothels, etc.
His paintings gained instant recognition and popularity among the French because he presented a behind the scenes look into the nightlife of Paris. I was eager to explore more about the content of his paintings so I explored the books found in the university library. I found a sufficient collection in the book "Toulouse-Lautrec : A Retrospective," edited by Gale B. Murray. Many of his paintings consisted of partially or wholly naked women in the process of dressing, dancing, lounging, washing, among other things. They are not posing stiffly as women often did in traditional and classical paintings. Instead, Lautrec captured them in the midst of normal and unrestrained behavior. I believe that this new veracity added to the intrigue of the paintings. Lautrec was truly an avant-garde artist who, according to Pelfrey, "broke with the perspective tradition and began to create new artistic languages that ultimately opened up new views of reality as well as new forms of art."
Interestingly, the influence of Lautrec's art was the Japanese woodblock prints. According to the article, Lautrec's use of perspective as well as flat color was inspired from those prints. Even the idea of representing the night world was derived from observing his collection of Japanese prints.
The avant garde artists were not all welcomed into society. As discussed in class, during the mid 1800's, Gustave Corbet's brutally real paintings were rejected in salons and Edouard Manet's paintings were vehemently regarded as vulgar. However, Lautrec painted during the last few years of the 19th century, when the people had already become exposed to such new art and were more accepting and actually excited about the avant garde movement.
He was born into an aristocratic family but never participated in aristrocratic activities due to a disability that inhibited the normal development of his legs. Thus, he delved into his own world of painting. He did not appreciate the conventional art of Van Gogh but the more Impressionist art of Degas. Impressionism could be defined as art whose role is to present a subjective impression rather than an objective reality. For the subject of his art, Lautrec would portray the essence of Parisien nightlife and sketch scenes of the caberets, dance halls, brothels, etc.
His paintings gained instant recognition and popularity among the French because he presented a behind the scenes look into the nightlife of Paris. I was eager to explore more about the content of his paintings so I explored the books found in the university library. I found a sufficient collection in the book "Toulouse-Lautrec : A Retrospective," edited by Gale B. Murray. Many of his paintings consisted of partially or wholly naked women in the process of dressing, dancing, lounging, washing, among other things. They are not posing stiffly as women often did in traditional and classical paintings. Instead, Lautrec captured them in the midst of normal and unrestrained behavior. I believe that this new veracity added to the intrigue of the paintings. Lautrec was truly an avant-garde artist who, according to Pelfrey, "broke with the perspective tradition and began to create new artistic languages that ultimately opened up new views of reality as well as new forms of art."
Interestingly, the influence of Lautrec's art was the Japanese woodblock prints. According to the article, Lautrec's use of perspective as well as flat color was inspired from those prints. Even the idea of representing the night world was derived from observing his collection of Japanese prints.
The avant garde artists were not all welcomed into society. As discussed in class, during the mid 1800's, Gustave Corbet's brutally real paintings were rejected in salons and Edouard Manet's paintings were vehemently regarded as vulgar. However, Lautrec painted during the last few years of the 19th century, when the people had already become exposed to such new art and were more accepting and actually excited about the avant garde movement.
Despite his popularity, Lautrec spun into whirlwind of alcoholism that deterioriated his health until 1901, when he died from a stroke. The legendary artist only lived 36 years but created art that will last till the end of time.
posted by Miss Elania @ 1:52 PM
2 Comments:
At December 9, 2004 at 3:32 AM,
Dennis Lewis said…
Good work, Ola. As you suggest, Toulouse Lautrec one of the reasons for the fame and acceptance that he achieved was the fact that much of the avant-garde groundwork had been done by people like Manet and Courbet. It's interesting that, in spite of his success and acceptance, Lautrec still wound up destroying his life. To what degreee do you think his identification with the role of the avant-garde artist - as living on the edge and taking risks - contributed to his self-destructiveness?
At December 11, 2004 at 12:12 PM,
Miss Elania said…
I think that he took this role too far. It is a shame (as well as annoying) to know such a talented artist who was uniquely successful DURING HIS OWN LIFETIME was driven to such self destruction. His initial intention at delving into the Parisian nightlife was to find realistic images for his art. Later, he became a member of this sleazier part of society. Despite his art’s popularity, he crept into the bars and wasted himself on alcohol. Consequently, he laid out his path to an early death. Did he feel that a volatile life would help him as an avant-garde artist? On the contrary, his early death thwarted his creation of possible masterpieces, while alive and sober.
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