Great graphic designers

Toulouse Lautrec – Friend to Oscar Wilde, Vincent van Gogh and prostitutes.

Toulouse-Lautrec was part of a select group of artists who began to combine the roles of artist and graphic designer together. True, in Lautrec’s world all he was doing was creating artistic posters that featured his paintings and drawings. But the sole purpose of his posters was to advertise and promote, and if that isn’t design communication then I don’t know what is!

History has not been fair to Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. In many films and books he is often depicted as some kind of aristocratic monster who frequented the Moulin Rogue with a rather unhealthy appetite for the women who worked there  (in truth he viewed the prostitutes as his friends). The real man is very different, and his story is quite sad.

Toulouse-Lautrec was born on the 24th November 1864 and grew up enjoying an active childhood. Then at the ages of 14 and 15 he suffered two minor accidents, which changed the direction of his life for good. On both occasions he fell to the floor and fractured his left leg. This led to the discovery of a rare bone disease that would cause him pain and embarrassment for the rest of his life. It also stunted his growth and meant that he didn’t grow taller than 5 foot.

The discovery of his bone disease led to his parents taking him out of school and moving him to Paris where he devoted himself to his passion – art. Despite his obvious talent and passion, it wasn’t until he was 17 that he first received his proper education in drawing. 

During his, relatively short, lifetime Lautrec met many different iconic figures from that period. Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde and Vincent van Gogh to name a few.

It was in February 1886, that Toulouse Lautrec met and became friends with van Gogh. For two years they painted and exhibited works together, influencing each other. Then, in February 1888 (and on Lautrec’s advice) van Gogh moved to the south of France where, ultimately, van Gogh committed suicide.

As his artwork became better know, so too did the demand for his posters which appeared, almost daily, on the street corners, outside the brothels he frequented and various theatres. The creativity and effortless pose of his subjects within each of his drawings and paintings captured the sense of activity, and caught the imagination of the bohemian spirit that was rife in France at the time.

Like his friend, van Gogh, Lautrec died before his time. At the age of 36 his health rapidly deteriorated and after two disabiling attacks he died on the 9^th of September 1901.

Lautrec was amazingly talented and could copy a scene from a playhouse without lifting his pencil from the paper. His posters have become iconic pieces of artwork and design. 

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