Looking in a Mirror, from the series Elles
Medium
Crayon, brush and spatter lithograph printed in three colors on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 20 9/16 x 15 3/4 in. (52.2 x 40 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
Accession Number
49.55.55
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec'sLooking in a Mirror*, from his groundbreaking 1896 series *Elles*, offers an intimate glimpse into the private world of Parisian brothel. Created amid the vibrant, hedonistic nightlife of fin-de-siècle France, the series portrays women—often courtesans—in candid, everyday moments, challenging the era's romanticized views of femininity. This poignant lithograph captures a woman gazing into a mirror, her reflection revealing vulnerability and quiet introspection amid the glamour of Montmartre's underworld. Toulouse-Lautrec, a Post-Impressionist master of the poster, revolutionized printmaking with this crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph in three colors on wove paper. His innovative techniques—layering bold colors and textured spatter—brought a dynamic immediacy to the medium, mimicking the spontaneity of his favored nightlife sketches. Printed by Gustave Pellet, the work exemplifies Lautrec's empathy for his subjects, rendered with loose lines and psychological depth rather than sensationalism. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Alfred Stieglitz Collection, *Looking in a Mirror* highlights Lautrec's cultural legacy: humanizing marginalized women while advancing color lithography as fine art. At 20 9/16 x 15 3/4 inches, it invites viewers to ponder themes of identity and self-perception that resonate across time.
About the Artist
Gustave Pellet|Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French|French) · 1859 |1864 –1919 |1901
French, Paris 1859–1919 Paris|French, Albi 1864–1901 Saint-André-du-Bois