Toulouse-Lautrec, by Gerstle Mack (1953)

Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. Hardcover. used-dust jacket very faded, scuffed, tears on spine and edges, inside book is good with slight paper yellowing/None. 5.75x8.5. “Toulouse-Lautrec” (1953), by Gerstle Mack, is the first complete biography in English of the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), whose short but intensely active life is portrayed against a colorful "gay nineties" background of dance halls, brothels, cafe-concerts, theatres, circuses, and race courses. A descendant of one of the noblest families in France, grotesquely deformed, hideously ugly, Lautrec voluntarily renounced the life of a country gentleman for the tawdry environment of Montmartre, where dissipation wrecked his health and brought about his premature death at the age of 37. Even so, his work and talents earned him a lasting regard as a great artist. This book contains material drawn from letters and other documents as well as personal interviews with many of his contemporaries. There are 58 illustrations in half-tone and a full color reproduction of 'L'Anglais au Moulin Rouge.’ Author Gerstle Mack (1894-1983) wrote several books on architecture. His biography of Cezanne, published in 1935, was described in The New York Times as ''the best and soundest of all books about that great artist the moment it was published.'' His ''Toulouse-Lautrec,'' published three years later, was similarly praised. ''The Land Divided,'' Mr. Mack's book on the history of the Panama Canal, was published in 1944.