NOW showing at the NGA is the first major Australian retrospective of Toulouse-Lautrec. Comprising paintings, posters, drawings – on loan from various key collections – it is a monumental achievement, especially considering the high-profile nature and careful guarding of Lautrec’s works. 

Curated by Jane Kinsman (responsible too for the NGA’s 2008 blockbuster, Degas: Master Of French Art) the exhibit follows chronologically Lautrec’s brief, prolific artistic career.

And what an interesting character he was. Deformed at birth, born into the aristocracy, he studied the techniques of seminal artists such as Paul Gauguin. As a youth he displayed prowess as a draftsman and painter and began to apply these skills in wonderful works such as “The Jockey”, which presents a patchy silhouette-like depiction of two riders juxtaposed against a gusty, metallic sky.

As the exhibition and its beautifully presented catalogue suggest, however, Lautrec’s greatest achievements are rooted in the manner in which his work differs from norms of the day.

Unlike many of his impressionist contemporaries who focused on fleeting experiences in observing nature, Lautrec was concerned with the inner character of his subjects, many of whom were not the French intelligentsia but rather the underbelly of Parisian society: prostitutes, circus performers, degenerates. These qualities are expressed in the painterly and contoured “La Goulue”, which contains a less-than-flattering depiction of a cabaret performer with twisted eyes and a heavily made-up face, entering the famous Moulin Rouge.

Lautrec’s advertisement posters – capturing the vitality of his subjects – are early examples of the blurring of high and low art. In “Mlle Eglantine’s troupe” we encounter four dancers against a bright yellow backdrop. The flatness of the image, the simple lines, bold forms and the prevalence of the woman form can be linked to the Japanese wood block prints that were influential in late nineteenth-century France.

Lautrec’s oeuvre constitutes some of the most exciting artwork of his time – and it had a profound influence on the art of the 20th century, including German expressionism. This exhibition, heralding the start of the centenary of Canberra celebrations, offers vivid insights into the European artistic world at the time Australia was being forged as a nation and decisions were being made about the location of a national capital.