Modern Masks
1889
Medium
Photogravure in dark brown retouched with soft varnish (vernis mou), roulette and blue handcoloring on thick cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 29 × 17.3 cm (11 7/16 × 6 13/16 in.); Plate: 34.9 × 24 cm (13 3/4 × 9 1/2 in.); Sheet, folded: 45.8 × 34.6 cm (18 1/16 × 13 5/8 in.)
Classification
photogravure
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
49384
Art Historical Context
**Modern Masks** (1889) by Félicien Rops a striking example of late 19th-century print innovation, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department. Created as a photogravure in dark brown, this work on thick cream wove paper 29 × 17.3 cm for the image alone, with the folded sheet reaching 45.8 × 34.6 cm. Rops, a Belgian artist renowned for his Symbolist and Decadent sensibilities, often explored themes of vice, satire, and the human condition through intricate, provocative imagery. The title *Modern Masks* evokes the era's fascination with hidden identities and social facad...
About the Artist
Félicien Rops · 1833–1898
Félicien Rops, born Félicien Victor Joseph Rops on July 7, 1833, in Namur, Belgium, to a prosperous textile manufacturing family, displayed prodigious artistic talent from youth. The only child of Nicholas Rops and Sophie Maubile, he received private tutoring until age ten, followed by education at a Jesuit school in Namur (1843–1848), the Athénée Royal de Namur, and the Academy of Fine Arts there...