Fastening a Corset – A Passing Conquest, from "Elles"

Fastening a Corset – A Passing Conquest, from "Elles" is a pivotal print created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1896. This lithograph showcases the artist’s innovative technical prowess, employing a complex combination of crayon, brush, and spatter techniques, enhanced by the use of a scraper, allowing him to achieve intricate textures and tonal depth. The final image was printed in five colors on wove paper, demonstrating the sophisticated color printing available during the fin-de-siècle era in Paris.

The subject matter places the viewer within the highly intimate setting characteristic of the Elles portfolio, a series that focused almost exclusively on the private lives of women, particularly those working in Parisian brothels. Toulouse-Lautrec depicts a moment of dressing, where a man—often interpreted as a client or a helper—assists a partially clad woman in securing her corset. This shared activity underscores the practical necessities and blurred boundaries defining the interactions between men and women in these regulated environments.

Toulouse-Lautrec avoided romanticizing his subjects, instead offering candid, documentary-style views. The composition emphasizes the physicality of the act of dressing while subtly commenting on the vulnerability of the subjects. The artist’s skillful delineation and dramatic contrasts inherent in the lithographic process successfully captured the social dynamics surrounding gender and class in the late 19th century. Fastening a Corset – A Passing Conquest is recognized as one of the most compelling visual records of marginalized women's lives in this period. This important work remains a significant highlight of the permanent prints collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.