The Box with the Gilded Mask
Medium
Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph with scraper, printed in five colors on imitation japan paper; only state
Dimensions
Sheet: 19 3/4 × 12 13/16 in. (50.2 × 32.5 cm) Image: 14 5/8 × 12 13/16 in. (37.2 × 32.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982
Accession Number
1984.1203.142
Tags
Art Historical Context
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's *The Box with the G Mask* (1894) captures the glamorous intrigue of Parisian nightlife during the Belle Époque. This vibrant lithograph depicts a mysterious woman in a theater box, her face hidden behind an ornate gilded mask, evoking the seductive world of cabarets and music halls that fascinated the artist. Lautrec, a master of Post-Impressionist poster art, immortalized performers and patrons from venues like the Moulin Rouge, observation with bold caricature to highlight the era's social vibrancy. Printed in five colors on imitation Japan paper—the only state o...
About the Artist
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|H. Stern|Edouard Kleinmann|Edward Ancourt · 1864–1901
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa (1864-1901) was a French Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker, and illustrator whose innovative poster designs revolutionized graphic art and advertising in late 19th-century Paris. Born into an aristocratic family at Albi in southern France, Toulouse-Lautrec's privileged lineage traced back to the Counts of Toulouse and extended uninterrupted to th...