A conservative evolution is evidenced by Toulouse-Lautrec’s not having released any of his lesbian artwork for public viewing. He only allowed “worthy” people whom he could trust to take a peek at the scandalous material. (Lucie-Smith 21) 
We can imagine that Toulouse-Lautrec often kept these works locked away simply because they were meant for private purpose; that is, he sketched them in order to better understand the homosexual attitude himself. He did not want the general public to know that he was interested in the lifestyles of these lesbians. Finally, in 1894, Toulouse-Lautrec’s Sapphic sketches were discovered by his uncle Charles Toulouse-Lautrec (a sketch of him is on the lefthand side). The artwork was hidden at his family home in Albi, and when his Uncle Charles found them, he was furious. He considered them to be a disgrace to the family and publicly burned them. (Sweetman 342) This incident perhaps deterred Toulouse-Lautrec from drawing explicit lesbian scenes since he still respected his family’s attitudes. Not all of the conservative values of his aristocratic background were shed when he moved to Montmartre. Perhaps after this incident he asked himself whether or not it was worth sketching lesbians since he was still not totally comfortable with exposing this material. Undoubtedly, this event affected the following Sapphic works. Toulouse-Lautrec was careful about portraying the lesbians as he further separated the subjects and made them appear less intimate and Sapphic by eliminating the embrace in the sketches and paintings that followed in the next year.
Image: Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de. Count Charles de Toulouse-Lautrec. Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi, France.