“In 1898, Parisian art gallery owner Maurice Joyant photographed his childhood friend Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec defecating on the beach at Le Crotoy, Picardie.
A year later Toulouse-Lautrec was committed to an asylum, and in 1901 he died from complications caused by alcoholism and syphilis.”
- Iconic Photos
…..
Thank you to La Boite Verte
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by miss r, toby macfarlaine, Karl Sinfield, Béranger, Gareth A Hopkins and others. Gareth A Hopkins said: RT @theretronaut: Toulouse-Lautrec sh*ts on a beach - http://tinyurl.com/4sspb88 [...]
Yep, even back then they had to crap..
And even back then they took pics of weird stuff.. :p
You’re okay showing the photos but you don’t want to post the word shit without an asterisk?
Okay, it’s a retro site, but I’m confused.
Hi Bangner - I chose to use the asterisk so that anyone offended by the word would not have to read it, and would still know what the content of the post was going to be. I do not find the word offensive, and at the same time I know that some people do and may therefore choose not to look further.
It’s cool, Mr Retronaut. (Or should I just call you “The”?) I’m not complaining. I just figure your readership is probably older, hence nostalgic, and “big enough” not to be babied. I do love this site. Please keep up the great work!
Thanks very much Bangner, I’m really glad you are enjoying the site. Will attempt to maintain Retronautic standards.
Yours
The / Chris
Did we really need to see this? This poor man was already largely insane, in all probability.
I’m not offended by bodily functions or language, but I am disappointed to see a photograph mocking a man not in his right mind.
Hi Banjo
Thank you for your comment. I don’t see this picture, or its publication, as mocking Toulouse-Lautrec.
There is no suggestion that Toulouse-Lautrec was being anything other than quite deliberate in having these pictures taken. Maurice Joyant who took the pictures was a childhood friend of the artist, and his art dealer, and he and Toulouse-Lautrec went on to publish the pictures as postcards.
Toulouse-Lautrec created a number of very provocative works. He frequently painted the Montmartre prostitutes, and his last words, referring to his father, were “Le vieux con!”, which can be translated in two ways.
In 2024, a set of these images was auctioned at Sotheby’s with an estimate of £20,000-30,000.
For me, the images are interesting in that they they radically undermine the model I have of how people behaved at the end of the nineteenth century. In that sense, they are deeply retronautic
Yours
Chris
Wonder if T-L was a folder or a scruncher?
Bravo, Henri, Bravo…. but is it art?
I blame absinth.
interesting alongside the impressionist concept we have
Where was Marcel Duchamp with the urinal when Toulouse-Lautrec needed him (and it)?