ALLENTOWN, PA.- An exhibition of more than 140 works on paper by French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is entertaining visitors to the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley this summer. Toulouse-Lautrec and His World is on loan from the Herakleidon Museum in Athens, Greece, and focuses on the art and life of one of the most fascinating artists and personalities of the Belle Époque (Beautiful Era) in France, which dates from the late 19th century through World War I. Lautrec lived in Paris during this colorful time of cabarets and cafés and captured its most famous singers, actors, and other characters in his highly celebrated posters, prints, and sketches.

Toulouse-Lautrec and His World—which fills the Scheller and Rodale galleries on the Museum’s second floor from June 2 to September 1, 2013—showcases pages from Lautrec’s sketchbooks, his book and magazine cover designs, and his well-known poster images, including Jane Avril, Divan Japonais, La Revue Blanche, and Mademoiselle Eglantine’s Troupe depicting four women dancing the Can-Can.

This is the best opportunity for art fans in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to see the exhibit: Allentown is the closest venue to Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and D.C. to present Toulouse-Lautrec and His World. During the 10 months the collection was on display in Athens, an average of 10,500 visitors per month took in the exhibit.

At the center of Toulouse-Lautrec and His World is a rare collection of original works on paper. This includes a number of the artist’s posters, with and without advertising lettering (sans lettres), as well as thirty-five of his sketches, which were often the draft ideas for the posters themselves. The included posters are rare and fragile because as temporary advertisements for a particular show they were not done on quality paper. Also on display are examples of Lautrec’s book illustrations.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) was greatly influenced by the French Impressionist movement and strove to incorporate the ideals of such painters as Monet and Renoir into his own work. Categorized as a Post-Impressionist, he is best known for his works depicting scenes from cabarets, theaters, dance halls and brothels. These were experiences that he himself lived when he moved to the north district of Montmartre in Paris in 1885. His interest lay in portraying people, not only those he met during his nights on the town but also his friends and the working-class citizens of Paris. In 1891, Toulouse-Lautrec produced a color poster for the Moulin Rouge nightclub that brought him instant fame. He also illustrated theater programs, book covers, menus, and other ephemera. His expressive use of line was well suited to the medium of lithography—he never made a distinction between commercial and fine art, even though he also painted in oil. Due to alcohol abuse and the effects of syphilis, his health began to deteriorate and Toulouse-Lautrec died in 1901 at the age of thirty-six.