In 1887, Dethomas enrolled at the École des Arts Décoratifs at which he studied briefly, preferring instead to pass much of his time at the bookshop of the Revue Indépendante, a favourite haunt of young artists and writers run by Édouard Dujardin.

[7] It is an often repeated, yet erroneous claim that Dethomas' relationship with Toulouse-Lautrec was one of master and student – at least in the formal sense of the term – though their shared experiences and mutual respect for each other as artists was of undeniable consequence.

[14] Dethomas claimed that his inspiration was guided by artists of earlier generations, particularly Goya, Delacroix and Manet, but his individuality of style ensured he would "not be influenced in his work by any methods or thoughts other than his own".

He primarily worked with broad strokes in conté, graphite, charcoal and pastel, often enhanced by watercolour and the masterful use of the spatter brush, with drizzles and sprays of gouache reminiscent of Lautrec lithographs.

By 1895, he was designing programmes for Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre and exhibition and advertising posters with print makers such as Edward Ancourt, Eugène Verneau and Auguste Clot.

With his drawings engraved by Léon Pichon and Emile Gasperini, he illustrated close to thirty books by many prominent authors including Maurice Donnay and Octave Mirbeau.

[3] Having cut ties with his bourgeois pretensions during an 1891 move to Montmartre, Dethomas followed in the footsteps of his mentors, hungry to find authentic expression of the human condition amongst the daily struggles of the urban poor.

Then artist's model Suzanne Desprès became romantically involved with Dethomas in June, 1894, and continued to feature prominently in his art for some years, later becoming a famous actress and wife of theater director Lugné-Poe.

Upon assuming management of the theater, Rouché enlisted the talents of several artists who had contributed to his magazine, La Grande Revue, including Jacques Dresa, René Piot and Maxime Dethomas, none of which had previously worked for the stage.

The inaugural production, Le Carnaval des Enfants (1910), marked a major theatrical revolution by which Dethomas' settings accentuated line and colour, rather than a focus on painted detail and endless props.

[25] The Théâtre des Arts went on to present nearly twenty plays, including Jacques Copeau's adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov (1911), and the stage production of La Tragédie de Salomé (1912), both a popular and critical success.

With a program consisting of La Vida Breve, El Amor Brujo, and Master Peter's Puppet Show, Falla's close friend Ignacio Zuloaga and Dethomas collaborated to create sets and marionettes.

[29] During his seventeen years in the theatre, Dethomas was artistic designer for over fifty plays, ballets and operas, featuring many of the era's most notable actors, dancers, singers, playwrights and composers, including Roussel, Stravinsky and Ravel.

[35] Always drawn to physical eccentricity, Toulouse-Lautrec nicknamed the 6'6" Dethomas 'Gros n'abre' (roughly: Big Tree), for his imposing height and dead-pan face;[36] Thadée 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 seemed duller than that worn by others.

[41] In the first days of 1891, Dethomas moved to an apartment at 8, Cité Pigalle, Montmartre – selected no-less for its proximity to the workshop of Eugène Carrière, than to that of his friends Toulouse-Lautrec and the photographer Paul Sescau.

Chosen from among his friends more for the comedic effect than for his bartending skill, Dethomas assisted Toulouse-Lautrec serving drinks, replete with absurd costumes and flourishes of theatrical drama.

[47] In subsequent years their travels continued, visiting exhibitions, museums and mutual friends or exploring towns such as Granville, Arromanches and Dinard, at which Dethomas had made use of a summerhouse.

[50] At around the same period, Toulouse-Lautrec declared "I will capture your immobility in places of pleasure", and over the course of one and a half years, he made numerous preparatory sketches of Dethomas intended for a single painting, each taking anywhere from five to fifteen minutes to create.

[56] During the final years of Toulouse-Lautrec's descent into full-blown alcoholism, Dethomas would rarely leave his side, often escorting him to his Montmartre home at the end of long drinking sessions.

[57] The two would spend many hours working and talking together at Henri's last Paris studio on avenue Frochot, sometimes sharing the same models, at all times Dethomas attempting to steer conversation away from the topic of alcohol.

"[61] When Dethomas learned of his friend's death, he wrote to his mentor Madame Bulteau, Friday, September 13, 1901: Dear Lady, Poor Lautrec is dead, it seems he didn't stop talking about me despite his agony.

[62]Bulteau's reply of September 16 summed up very well the tone of the relationship between the two friends and the reason for the little man's deep attachment to his Gros n'abre: "I understand and feel with you the distress caused by Lautrec's death.

[64] Arriving in Paris at the end of 1889 after a disappointing stay in Rome, the young Basque painter Ignacio Zuloaga first met Maxime Dethomas as a fellow student at the studio of Henri Gervex.

Dethomas' joy at finding his old Montmartre companion under such circumstances soon turned to sadness as Zuloaga explained his dire financial straits and his desperation to return to Paris to revive his artistic career.

Her considerable reach within the arts community would smooth his path to recognition and ultimately lead to several commissions from her network of expatriate Spanish-speaking habitués, most notably, the 1913 portrait of the writer Anna de Noailles, which would stand as one of Zuloaga's most important works.

On May 18, 1899, in Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, Ignacio Zuloaga, to whom success has just smiled at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, married Valentine Dethomas, with Eugène Carrière and Isaac Albéniz as witnesses.

During August and September, 1898, Dethomas acted as a marriage broker of sorts, attempting to bring together his half-sister Germaine and Louys, a plot that was thwarted by Maxime's stepmother, Marie-Louise Thierrée.

Proust made a glowing mention of Dethomas' landscapes of Venice in The Sweet Cheat Gone and discussed the quality of his work after attending an exhibition held at Galerie Durand-Ruel.

Il y en a deux, vues de dos, avec une Venise froide et bleue dans le fond, qui sont d'une pâte vraiment régalante (no.

Whilst he had been visiting Venice each winter for several years, and accumulating a considerable portfolio of work in the process, the collaboration with Regnier for this project uniquely combined previously completed stand-alone coloured artworks, and a suite of black and white sketches in charcoal and conté explicitly intended for use 'in-text'.