Histoires Naturelles

Histoires Naturelles is an exceptional illustrated book created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, featuring twenty-three distinct transfer lithographs, including the wrapper design. This French work, conceived in 1897 and published in 1899, showcases Toulouse-Lautrec’s characteristic graphic style applied to textual illustration. While renowned for his iconic posters capturing Parisian nightlife, this project demonstrates his profound engagement with fine art printmaking and literary interpretation. The use of the transfer lithography technique allowed the artist greater spontaneity in his line work, maintaining the fluid, expressive quality of his initial sketches across the multiple illustrations.

The collection was created specifically to accompany a selection of poetic prose and prose poems by Jules Renard, a contemporary writer often associated with Realism and a keen observer of human and animal nature. Toulouse-Lautrec chose to depict various animals, ranging from mundane household pets to exotic creatures, rendering them not just as scientific studies, but imbuing them with human characteristics and often wry wit. This approach reflects the fin-de-siècle cultural interest in blending observational detail with psychological insight. This body of work underscores Toulouse-Lautrec’s versatility beyond the Post-Impressionist painting movement, confirming his status as a major contributor to modern graphic arts.

As an Illustrated Book, this piece holds significant historical value, documenting an important collaboration between major artistic and literary figures of the era. The limited run and the complexity of the twenty-three individual prints within the volume make it a highly prized work among collectors and historians. Today, many of the images from this set have entered the public domain due to the date of their creation (1897, published 1899), allowing broader access to these distinctive examples of French graphic design. A complete copy of Histoires Naturelles is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), recognizing its central importance to the history of modern book arts.