Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri (Marie Raymond de)

French artist. He was active in Paris, where he painted entertainers and prostitutes in a style characterized by strong colours, bold design, and brilliant technical skill. From 1891 his lithographic posters were a great success, skilfully executed and yet retaining the spontaneous character of sketches. His later work was to prove vital to the development of poster art.

Career
His main activity as an artist belongs to the decade 1885–95, when his life revolved round Montmartre, Paris. At home in society of every kind, he drew and observed in the cafés, cabarets, and brothels. In a sanatorium 1899–1901, he drew and painted from memory the series Au Cirque.

Style
He was influenced by Edgar Degas, and brilliantly adapted the design and technique of the Japanese print to his own purpose in colour lithography. His posters for the Moulin Rouge and other venues are classics of their kind. Oil diluted with petrol and used on board, giving a matt effect, was a favoured medium, enabling him to sketch swiftly and vividly in paint, but it is in drawings and lithographs that he is unique. He was interested neither in light nor form as such, but in the intensity of mood and expression that he conveyed.