One must wade through tons of lesser stuff to get to just a few even halfway decent art videos on the web, so whenever I find art videos that are much better than average, I add them here. And when I find a good series of videos on the same subject, I put them in order so that you (and I) don't have to search for the next part -- and the next, etc. Today I found an interesting series of three videos on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French post-Impressionist painter and printmaker, 1864 1901).
Mr. Toulouse paints Mr. Lautrec
Photo by Maurice Guilbert c. 1891
Source: Wikipedia
Probably everyone knows that Toulouse-Lautrec was born into a well-to-do aristocratic family and that his legs did not grow to their full length but the rest of his body did grow to full adult size, and that he lived his entire adult life in Montmartre, on the outskirts of Paris, drinking and carousing, and painting the exciting, decadent local scene toward the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
Boulevard Montmartre (The boulevard that led to Montmartre as seen from Pissarro's hotel room)
by Camille Pissarro, 1897
Source: Wikipedia
These narrated videos (below, on this page) include many photographs taken in Montmartre during this period, and even some old movie footage, and audio recordings of some famous cabaret singers there at that time. Artists including Lautrec, Steinlen, Camille Pissarro, Matisse, Renoir, Degas (a strong artistic influence on Toulouse-Lautrec), Utrillo, Derain, and Vincent van Gogh, Picasso (and many more) were drawn to Montmartre by the heady, artistic, licentious atmosphere of the place.
Arrival of La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892
Source: Wikipedia
The videos tell us a lot about Montmartre and how it influenced the art of the day, even more than about Lautrec in particular. In these videos the stage is set for the artists who got so much out of this exciting, bohemian (and fascinatingly seedy) entertainment district.
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VIDEOS - National Gallery of Art "mini-biography" of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in three parts
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PART 1 of 3
Toulouse-Lautrec, a documentary life
TIME: 10 minutes, 32 seconds
"The scene is set with discussion of Haussmann's boulevards, the Paris Commune, Third Republic, Degas and the rebellion."
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PART 2 of 3
Toulouse-Lautrec, a documentary life
TIME: 10 minutes, 48 seconds
"Le Mirliton (Aristide Bruant) and the cabaret scene is discussed in this segment."
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PART 3 of 3
Toulouse-Lautrec, a documentary life
TIME: 8 minutes, 24 seconds
"Discussed is Jane Avril 'dancing with an air of depraved virginity', plus Yvette Guilbert and her black gloves."
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LINKS
Artcyclopedia page of links for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Smithsonian Magazine article on Toulouse-Lautrec, 2005
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