Post-Impressionism and I - Part One of Three (Introduction & Toulouse-Lautrec)

An influence so perfectly suited, a train of thought so wonderfully convoluted, resulting in blog post so monumental as to be torn triply asunder.

 Introduction

'Post-Impressionism': a movement labelled with the vaguest of definitions, encompassing such a vast array of styles and deviations which just so happened to follow and draw inspiration from the vastly influential movement of Impressionism. The term describes the development of French art since 1886 (according to art historian John Rewald, although any concrete chronological, stylistic or geographical definition of the movement is contentious)  The term 'Post-Impressionism' encompassed many  separate but inter-related movements such as Pointillism, Cloisonnism and Sythetism. Leading figures of the movement were Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, Cezanne and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Currently, my attention is drawn to the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard - a devastating three way tussle for the title of 'most Frenchified name'. The technical elements of Impressionism which so appeal to me (thick application of paint, high colour-vibration, distinctive brushstrokes and real, observational subject matter) are all still inherent in the particular facets of Post-Impressionism which they represent, yet there the stronger geometrical emphasis and more solid composition of the style also appeals to me.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

In Bed, 1893 

In this painting, Toulouse-Lautred shows two women sharing a bed together, although without any overt sexual suggestions. The bond seems fraternal rather than sexual, merely two people sheltering together from a harsh and demmanding world

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's artwork is intrinsically connected with his famous lifestyle. A debauched, alcoholic, aristocratic dwarf, Toulouse-Lautrec lived in the fashionable bohemian Paris neighbourhood of Montmatre, a town which in the late 19th century could turn a bishop into a drunkard, lustful mess in thirty minutes flat. Much of T-L's work focuses on the emergent Parisian nightlife as its subject matter, but despite the surface bawdiness and debauchery, I love the way that in his depictions of hungover prostitutes, exhausted cabaret dancers and closing bars, manages to treat his subject matter with a sensitivity, melancholy and tenderness that penetrates the contemporaneous reflection of the subjects and instead uses it as a subtext for a exploration of the very trembling core of what it means to be alive, living - a human being.

 
The Kiss

 The Hangover" (Portrait of Suzanne Valadon), c.1888

  A Corner of the Moulin de la Galette, 1892