Page:The illustrators of Montmartre.pdf/45



shadow, out of the poster at the top right hand corner. In all these and his other posters the lettering is bold and legible.

Lautrec's studies in the music halls are uncompromising in their garishness; he apparently does not attempt to seek beauty where it exists in such small quantities, or has been so carefully hidden. He delights in the flare and glare, the powder and paint, the discords and the inconsistencies of the thing. He prefers the raucous screech of the bold-faced jig, whose reputation as a songstress rests on her fine limbs, to the exquisite song of the highly-trained opera singer, He would reject gold in favour of tinsel. Yet this same man in another mood would paint a splendid and refined portrait.

Then there is Lona Barrison, jauntily leading her white horse out of the ring, followed by her manager with the pale chreme hair and beard; and then the hideous negro — "Chocolat dancing in a bar." All of these figures, despite their faulty drawing and their element of caricature, carry conviction with them.

Lautrec's travels in Spain, in England, Holland, and Belgium seem to have left little impression on his work. It is probable that the unhealthy surroundings and late hours imposed by his studies in café-concerts, in green-rooms, in libertine ballrooms and worse, hastened the end of that frail, feverish life — a life like that of a gaudily coloured rocket, brilliant and soon spent.