Lautrec back in Paris

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34103, 16 March 1976, Page 12

Lautrec back in Paris

j Toulouse - Lautrec’s 'masterpieces have ref turned briefly to the licity whose painted i.iwhores and vivacious fcabaret dancers were si immortalised in his caus- ’ tic canvases. 3. On display for four months at the Marmottan ’(Museum, in Paris are 90 of : the painter's finest works, jilent by the Toulouse-Lautrec ; Museum in his home town! 'iof Albi, Southern France. | Albi is returning a favour.; (Last year the Marmottan's; magnificent collection of I paintings by the Impression- i ist, Claude Monet, paintings; paid a brief visit to Albi. ■ The Mayor of Albi, Lau-j rent Mathieu, considers it a, highly appropriate gesture.' “This Parisian exhibition is i for Toulouse Lautrec, a Pari-i sian painter par excellence,! a return to the source of hisl inspiration, the Paris of the i belle epoque.” he says. Jean Devoisins, curator of! the Toulouse-Lautrec Mu-;' seum, promised Parisians:! “You will find in this exhi-1 bition the essential themes i that haunted the painter throughout his brief life “His was a world of phys- - ica) exploits forbidden to one of his small stature, ind one of sexual exploits, a field in which he had exceptional and unexpected talents.”

In fact, the exhibition highlights how the bearded midget, crippled by two freak accidents in childhood, captured on canvas the essence of the women he knew, with a sardonic but human touch.

The dancer, Jane Avril, is portrayed in graceful silhouette with one of her magnificently eccentric hats.

At the Moulin Rouge cabaret, the high-kicking La Goulue is frozen for posterity in a swirl of skirts and a blaze of blonde hair.

Prostitutes also provided profound inspiration for the

S towering talents of the tiny . painter, whose career ended , at the age of 37, the same ; life span as his contempo--1 rary, Vincent Van Gogh. 5 On display at the Marmot-1 ! tan is one of Toulouse- .. Lautrec’s finest and most (famous works — the salon of. the Rue Des Moulins brothel, which he frequented. There, he superbly por-i ! trayed the brittle gaiety of; the girls as they sat primly! ; straight-backed on the lush ; ! purple sofas in a long, languid wait for customers. ■ Many of his portraits of ■ ! women are caricatures ■ ■ jwhieh dramatically convey their most striking traits, Hike Yvette Guilbert revelling in the adoration as she ; takes a curtain call. ; But. never are his por- ; traits harsh. Humour and ■ igentleness are ever present. ; Clearly this impression (was uppermost in the minds | jof the exhibition’s organisers. In their press dossier' (they included a tribute from. , the Italian film director. I iFrederico Fellini, whose ci-|( (nema world is inhabited by I-

the same rejects of society i< that were so dear to;! Toulouse-Lautrec. (< He wrote: I have always! had the impression that Tou-j< louse Lautrec was my t brother and my friend, be-It

icause of the attraction he felt for despised and human beings The Italian director conI eluded: “He was simple and (true, magnificent despite his ugliness."