Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris

Les Plastrons, 1900, Pablo Picasso

At the Cafe La Mie, about 1891, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

I try to like Toulouse-Lautrec, I really do. In fact, I think I like him a lot until I am actually in the presence of his work and then I realize all over again that I really am not very fond of him. Biographically he was an interesting person, as are most artists, but his work just doesn't thrill me. Sure it evokes very clearly the period in which it was created: the smell of the booze, sweat and cigarette smoke of the cabarets, the rowdy music, the bawdy women, but it also is repetitious as hell. All his women, and even his men, all look like one another with the same rather generic angular facial features, which drives me nuts. With the exception of one or two oils and mixed media works which are rather lovely, I just can't get into his work.

This general disdain didn't stop me from trying once again to like him when I went to see Café and Cabaret: Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris which is currently on display at the MFA. I was very excited about seeing the show, and was even really bummed out when I got sick with the flu and had to postpone my visit for a week. But then came the day when I finally walked into the gallery and...was instantly disappointed. Again. I was pleased though that the exhibit was padded with a few additional works by Steinlen and Vuillard, two of Lautrec's contemporaries and the latter of which I rather enjoy. I even thought I had hit paydirt when I discovered amidst all the ugly stuff one of Lautrec's works that I truly like: the moody and lovely "At the Café La Mie" but then even this was trumped by a very tiny early Picasso done in the style of Toulouse-Lautrec that I don't recall ever having seen before. At just 5 3/8 x 8 7/8, this piece was a teeny tiny slice of heaven and I was thrilled that the MFA had pulled it out of storage for this show. It was definitely worth the trip to have discovered this little beauty, and the funny thing is, I'm not really much of a Picasso fan either.

Photos courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.