"A little thing, you know, like a puppet" - how his friends saw him

 

All through the sometimes harrowing biography of Lautrec by Julia Frey, there are indescribably cruel and even monstrous descriptions of his physical appearance which just don't tally with what we see in the photos. Or at least, I don't think so. This Guilbert chick didn't mince words, she thought he was ugly, his lips were too thick, he looked disgusting as he ate. But he had such beautiful eyes! It's true, there is so much in those eyes, candid, compassionate, and full of ironic humor. They are kind eyes. So why make such a fuss over his table manners or his unaristocratically full lips? No wonder he drowned himself in absinthe. With friends like these. . . And yet, Henri not only forgave Yvette Guilbert, he was such a great fan that he featured her in many of his artworks. 

As for the puppet remark, I keep running into the fact that Henri was just under five feet tall, about like Danny DeVito who is never described as a dwarf, just a short man. Many women are a similar height, so there is no way everyone towered over him. The fact his legs were so out of proportion, causing his awkward hobble, may have compounded the puppet insult. But was he such a tiny little thing? The fact that he seemed to be two different bodies cobbled together may have emphasized this miniaturized quality.

Why can't I stop writing about Lautrec? Because when I am writing about Lautrec, I forget about how I feel, about all the health woes, the pain, the endless specialists and tests and the sense that even after all this, I am still doomed. Lautrec has been a life-saver, in that I become totally absorbed in what I am doing, in finding just the right words. I can't seem to get back into my YouTube channel after all that has happened, and not just with my health. It does hearten me a little to see that my creativity has once more flowed in a different direction. It has not dried up. Hardly! 

At any rate, I'm grateful to be able to lose myself in what is increasingly becoming a Lautrec fan blog. As for the little thing like a puppet, well, we already know that there were certain portions of his anatomy that were far from miniature. Perhaps Yvette had to find that out for herself.