Looking in a Mirror, from "Elles"

Looking in a Mirror, from "Elles," is a seminal work created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1896. This striking piece belongs to the renowned Elles portfolio, a series through which the artist offered an unprecedentedly intimate and unsentimental look into the daily lives of women working in Parisian brothels. The medium employed is a sophisticated crayon, brush and spatter lithograph, utilizing three colors printed meticulously on wove paper. This specialized printmaking technique allowed Toulouse-Lautrec to achieve nuanced textures and remarkably soft effects, blending the expressive fluidity of drawing with the reproducibility inherent in fine art prints.

The subject of the work focuses on a woman caught in a private moment of reflection and quiet contemplation. The inclusion of the mirror is significant, serving not merely as a decorative element but as a device to capture a moment of self-awareness or introspection, distinct from the staged performance expected by outside viewers. Toulouse-Lautrec’s approach throughout the series avoids moralizing judgment, instead documenting the inherent humanity and quiet reality of these women’s existence.

This celebrated work further cemented the artist's reputation as a master draftsman and profound chronicler of fin-de-siècle Parisian nightlife. Classified specifically as a print, the original impression of this lithograph is held in the prestigious collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Due to the historical and artistic importance of the work, high-resolution images of these master prints are often made available to scholars, frequently entering the public domain for study and appreciation.