Toulouse-Lautrec et la vie parisienne-A Special Exhibition Celebrating the New Home of the Suntory Museum of Art
Saturday 26 January to Sunday 9 March 2008

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (b.1864-d.1901) was one of the leading painters in France at the end of the 19th century and is also well-known as an artist of posters and prints. Toulouse-Lautrec came from an aristocratic family in Albi in the south of France. His talent bloomed in the entertainment district of Montmartre. There, he spent most of his time at dance halls, cabarets, theatres, and brothels. He shrewdly observed the entertainers, prostitutes, and the people gathered there and depicted them with exceptional skill, resulting in enchanting works.
This exhibition focuses on the ten or so years of the artist's later life, the period during which he was active in Montmartre. Through various genres such as paintings, drawings, posters, prints, and illustrations, Toulouse-Lautrec's involvement with the popular culture in Paris is examined. Some of the works from the Toulouse-Lautrec Collection at the Musée d'Orsay are being shown in Japan for the first time. There are many other masterworks gathered from the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand and elsewhere in Japan and abroad. There is also a considerable amount of reference material conveying the social situation of the time. Through such exhibits, we hope to bring the art of Toulouse-Lautrec and the age he was living in into relief. Furthermore, the artist's relationship with Japanese art is examined through comparison with ukiyoe prints.