The Art of Cuisine

“A compendium of [Toulouse-Lautrec’s] memorable recipes published decades after his death that provides many insights into his life and times.” —BBC

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec brought to his art a zest for life as well as an impeccable style. It is an exciting discovery to find that Lautrec applies this same exuberance and meticulous technique to the art of cuisine—that he invented recipes and cooked new dishes as an artistic creation worthy of his serious attention.

This volume is a collection of the recipes that Lautrec invented, or were garnered in his company from acquaintances of all classes of society. It has been illustrated with the menus that Lautrec himself designed and decorated, as well as with a rich abundance of other appropriate Lautrec paintings and drawings. The frontispiece is a portrait by Edouard Vuillard of Lautrec preparing one of his masterful dishes.

The recipes are given here in their original form, retaining their color of thought and language. The only modifications are culinary notes that have been added to facilitate the work of modern cooks.

We owe the record of this cuisine to Maurice Joyant. Joyant and Lautrec had been childhood friends, and their intimacy was renewed and deepened during the Montmartre years, when Lautrec’s fame was growing and Joyant was director of the same art gallery in Paris that Theo Van Gogh had run before him. This book is a tribute to their friendship and to their daily intercourse in art and in cuisine. Thus, art, friendship, and food have come together in The Art of Cuisine as a joyful legacy of Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice Joyant.