Maxime Dethomas - Associations and Friendships

Associations and Friendships

Lautrec nicknamed him "Grosnabre" for his dead-pan face; Thadee Natanson described him as a gentle giant, polished and discreet – "He was so frightened of wearing anything that might draw attention to himself that even the black of his clothes seemded duller than that worn by others." Paul Leclercq states that what fascinated Lautrec about Dethomas was "his ability to preserve an impassive appearance even in a place of amusement ". Lautrec and Dethomas formed a close friendship during the early 1890s – so much so that Dethomas became Lautrec's "closest friend". Dethomas' placidity, corpulence and extreme shyness (he always blushed when he had to raise his voice) endeared him to Lautrec. Two know portraits of Dethomas (by Lautrec 1896 and Opissio) show Dethomas with his face averted, which says much of his shy manner. They often visited brothels and cafes in the Montparnese together; these visits played an intrinsic role in the development of Lautrec's Art. During the summer of 1895 Dethomas travelled to Normandy coast with Lautrec. Lautrec moved to 30 Rue Fontaine from June 1895 onwards, near Dethomas, and stays there until 1898. In 1896 Lautrec paints the famous portrait of Maxime Dethomas at the Bal de l'Opera (N.G. A., Washington ) and Debauche Avec Dethomas, a lithograph later used on the cover of an exhibition catalogue (Dortu, 263). In 1897 (20 June-5 July) Dethomas sailed Holland's canals on a barge with Lautrec and visited Utrecht and the Frans Hals Museum at Haarlem. Their friendship lasted until the end of Lautrec's life.

Dethomas was a friend to Marcel Proust. Proust made a favourable mention of Dethomas's landscapes of Venice in Remembrance of Things Past (The Sweet Cheat Gone, Ch.3) and discussed the quality of his work at an exhibition at the Durand-Ruel Galleries. In a letter to Dethomas of March 1903, Proust wrote that after having seen his exhibition, he received "a profound initiation to the understanding of nature and love of life." He continued, "it seems that one has gotten from you new eyes to look at life and men and even down to those little windows on the Grand Canal that I would love to juxtapose with yours."

During the 1890s, Dethomas formed a close friendship with the artist Ignacio Zuloaga, who lived in Paris at this time. Zuloaga studied under Eugene Carriere with Dethomas, and by 1892 they were close friends - Dethomas invited Zuloaga to stay with his family for some period – during which Zuloaga formed a bond with Maxime's Half-Sister Marie-Valentine. Zuloaga went on to marry Marie-Valentine on May 18, 1899, with Eugene Carriere and Isaac Albéniz as witnesses.

The author Pierre Louys was also a close companion of Dethomas and had collaborated with him on the first edition of Le Centaure in 1896. During August and September 1898, Dethomas acted as a marriage broker of sorts, attempting to bring together his sister Germaine and Pierre Louys, a plot that was thwarted by Dethomas's stepmother.