The actor Henry Samary 1889

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this oil on canvas portrait of the actor Henry Samary using swift brushstrokes. The immediacy of the paint, applied wet-on-wet, gives the canvas a sense of vitality. The artist's loose handling allows the surface of the painting to be seen and appreciated. We can follow the movement of his brush, the direction of his hand, and the layering of the colors to suggest the depth and texture of the actor's attire. The choice of oil paint allowed the artist to blend colors smoothly, creating luminous, vibrant colors, but it’s applied with a visible speed and directness. In this era, painting was becoming newly aware of its own materiality. The visible labor of the artist, the decisions visible in the finished work, became part of the aesthetic experience. This piece is less about representing Henry Samary with perfect accuracy, but more about the process of painting itself, and the artist's own hand.