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III

H. DE TOULOUSE LAUTREC

AUTREC is onc of those artists whose work is so uneven and out of the ordinary, that opinions as to its merits or demerits will ever remain as strongly

divided now that he is gone, as ever they were during his lifetime. His short life work consists of a mixed series of talented absurdities, and of veritable tours de force. His genius, alas! was of the species that borders on insanity, Occasionally the border was overstepped.

In more ways than one Aubrey Beardsley's short life may be compared to that of Lautrec, His genius was of a similar order, and as one examines his work, so will one be inclined first to call him an unwholesome incompetent, and next feel convinced that he is a pioneer artist of the first rank,

Lautrec's life story is a very pathetic one. With him in 1901 was extinguished the last remnant of an ancient line of nebles. His father was an ama-