There are interesting parallels between Andy Warhol and the French fin-de-siecle artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Each was an instantly recognizable figure who moved in a Bohemian crowd, was obsessed with celebrity, and produced print works that embodied the relationship between art and commerce.
This is one of many impressions you might take home from the richly textured exhibition "Toulouse-Lautrec et la vie parisienne" at the Suntory Art Museum till March 9, which pays particular attention to Toulouse-Lautrec's posters of the celebrities of his day.
"This exhibition has some new points of view," says Akira Tomita, general director of the Suntory. "We show his art in its entirety — not only posters, but also his paintings and designs, and documents from the period. In Japan, this is the first time to show all the media of his works in this quantity."