Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (France, 1864 - 1901).
"En quarante", 1893.
Lithograph.
Signed with initials on plate. With workshop stamp.
This lithograph was published by the magazine "L'Escarmouche" and reproduced in its issue of November 12, 1893.
Measurements: 33 x 24,5 cm; 46 x 39 cm (frame).

Lautrec's characteristic style, with flowing lines and economy of detail, is combined here with an ability to capture emotions and gestures with few strokes, giving the work a psychological depth despite its apparent simplicity. His choice of title ("cuarentones") emphasizes that biting look at everyday life, a constant in much of his work.

Painter, engraver and draftsman, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was one of the artists who best represented Parisian life at the end of the 19th century. Born into one of the most important aristocratic families in France, he studied painting with Bonnat and Cormon. In Paris he frequented the colorful and lively cabarets of Montmartre, attracting with his wit and loquacity a large group of artists and intellectuals. A regular at the theater, the circus and the brothels, Toulouse-Lautrec captured memories and impressions of them in portraits and sketches of surprising strength and originality. He is currently represented in the museum that bears his name in Albi, as well as in the most important art galleries around the world: the Louvre and Orsay Museums in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan and MoMA in New York, the National Gallery in London, the Albertina in Vienna, etc.