Naughty Nineties

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1934, Page 7

Naughty Nineties

A ■•lively-vision of Parisian life in the' Naughty Nineties is afforded by the .exhibition of paintings and . drawiugsby' Henri Toulouse-Lautrec at the Knoedler Galleries, Old Bond Street,' "W.y states the '' P.aily Mail." leaving been crippled in his youth Toulouse-Lautrec had :to abandon his early dreams, of becoming a cavalry officer' andtook to painting as the' next best thing. ■ Were ;it iiot';for'Lautree's infirmity French art would have;lost one of-its most sensitive artists, and the gay doings of Mbhtniartre at the -close of last century one of their most' sagacious chroniclers. . • Living-rightin the midst of it; he recorded the'eafe,'; circus, and dancing life of his time not-as a cold spectator, but as an eager-participant, making numerous';sketches 'Of places, faces, and' postures, which served him as documentation for'his oil and gouache paintings. ■ -•■ " ; - '.. ■- "Le Bal dv Moulin Rouge," "A la Mie: portrait de Maurice Guibert," and the spirited .series., of.crayon drawings "Au Cirque" are typical examples-of his art. : There *aro-• not-iaaiyr-of Toulouso-

Lautree'a pictures in. this country, yet a few outstanding works- have ben loanedto the exhibition by, English collectors. : . .

Among them is "Danseuse dans sa Loge," lent by Mr. and Mrs.'C. B. Cochran—a , sparkling, impressionistic painting which was done as.a decoration on the wall of a cafe —and "L'Anglais au Moulin Rouge," which belongs to Mr. W. T. .Warrener, of' Lincoln.