Letters

This is the first full edition of the letters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). Collected by Herbert Schimmel and others, it brings together all the known extant correspondence, including some 619 by the artist himself and a selection of relevant documents and letters by close friends. Over 300 letters are published for the first time, and an appendix contains descriptions of 29 letters whose present location is unknown. Lautrec's letters span his entire life and career, from his conventional, aristocratic childhood, through his years of avant-garde fame, to his tragic deterioration, breakdown, and death. The majority of the early letters were to his family, but as his career progressed an increasing number were written to professional friends and acquaintances, dealers, journalists, editors, and publishers. They provide fascinating and often amusing or poignant insights into Lautrec the personality and the painter, as well as being rich in historical detail and artistic revelations. The work should appeal to scholars and students of history of art, social history, French history, as well as to the general reader.Table of ContentIntroduction, Gale B. Murray; child and schoolboy, chronology 1838-1881, letters; art student, chronology 1882-1886, letters; artist - the early years, chronology 1887-1891, letters; artist - the middle years, chronology 1892-1897, letters; artist - the last years, breakdown, and the end, chronology 1898-1930, letters. Appendices: H. de Toulouse-Lautrec - notes on other letters; Henri Bourges - notes on 1893 vacation trip; W.H.B. Sands - balance of Lautrec-Sands correspondence; Berthe Sarrazin - correspondence; documents and letters relating to the death of H. de Toulouse-Lautrec.