The Box with the Gilded Mask (1893)
Original title: The Box with the Gilded Mask
kurzbeschreibung
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this lithograph, The Box with the Gilded Mask, in 1893. It shows a woman in a theater or café-concert, her face hidden behind a golden mask. The image was printed in five colors from a stone worked with crayon, brush, and spatter on imitation japan paper.
Description
In the foreground sits a red-haired woman in a black jacket and a black hat with a feather. A golden mask covers her face, and she holds a pair of glasses in her hand. A yellow angel with outstretched arms floats beside her. The background consists of red curtains that evoke a theater stage.
Context
The print dates from 1893, when Toulouse-Lautrec often took the Parisian nightlife and its entertainment venues as his subject. This lithograph belongs to his engagement with the stage world and the demimonde, which recur throughout his work. The masked woman points to the fin-de-siècle taste for masquerades and the staging of identity.
Impact
The golden mask, red ground, and floating yellow angel create a surreal, dreamlike mood. The few colors and expressive lines give the image a direct, almost poster-like impact that immediately grabs the viewer.
Technique
For this print, Toulouse-Lautrec used lithography, working the stone with crayon, brush, spatter, and scraper. It was printed in five colors on imitation japan paper; only this single state exists.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)