Toulouse-Lautrec and the Golden Age of Cabaret

7 December 2022

Digby hall , hound street, sherborne at 3 pm and 7 pm

Toulouse-Lautrec’s life is both a triumph against adversity and a glimpse into late 19th century society in Paris. Julian looks at the careers of the leading cabaret artists who were the subject of Lautrec’s art including La Goulue, Jane Avril, Yvette Guilbert, May Milton, the clown Cha-U-Kao and Aristide Bruant, as well as at some of the well known venues such as Le Rat Mort, the Moulin Rouge, the Divan Japonais and the Moulin de la Galette. This is a lively view of La Belle Époque seen through the eyes of an artist from an aristocratic family.

Julian Halsby

Studied History of Art at Cambridge. Formerly Senior Lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art. Publications include Venice – the Artist’s Vision (1990, 1995), The Art of Diana Armfield RA (1995), Dictionary of Scottish Painters (1990, 1998, 2001, 4th edition 2010), A Hand to Obey the Demon’s Eye (2000), Scottish Watercolours 1740-1940 (1986, 1991), A Private View – David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery (2002). Interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and appointed Keeper in 2010.