Description
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901) two sided sketchbook page. Catalogued in the catalogue Raisonne.
Soldats (recto); Sur la corde (verso) (two-sided drawing), circa 1879-1881 Graphite on paper
Measures: 6.7 x 10.6 inches (15.9 x 26.0 cm)
Stamped with red monogram lower left.
Awaiting for this piece to be framed tastefully in thick plexiglass so both sides can be displayed.
Provenance: C. Viau; M. Guiot; T. H. Halperin, United States; Private collection, New York; Thence by descent to the current owner.
Literature: M. Joyant, Lautrec II, p. 179; M. G. Dortu,
Toulouse-Lautrec et son œuvre, Catalogue des dessins, IV, New York, 1971, cat. no. D.I.520 and cat. no. D.I.1.521, p. 248, illustrated.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is one of the legendary artists of 19th-century Paris, famous for traversing the nightspots of the city’s Montmartre district, always with a sketchbook in hand. He was a superb draftsman, able to capture the motion, emotion, and energy of Parisian society with just a few deft strokes of his pencil.
While today, Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings hang in museums around the world, during his lifetime, he was most famous for his illustrations. The work that originally made him a Parisian celebrity was “Moulin Rouge: La Goulue,” his 1891 four-color lithograph that he designed as an advertising poster for the notorious Moulin Rouge nightclub.