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The Acid-thrower (Vitrioleuse)

The Acid-thrower (Vitrioleuse)

(French (born in Switzerland), 1841–1917)
1894
Medium/TechniquePhotorelief with color stencil
DimensionsImage: 39.7 x 27.6 cm (15 5/8 x 10 7/8 in.)
Sheet: 58.4 x 42.9 cm (23 x 16 7/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of Azita Bina-Seibel and Elmar W. Seibel
Accession number1991.842
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description
An especially disturbing figure among the host of femme fatales to emerge as urban legends in fin-de-siècle France was the scorned woman who attacked her rivals with acid. Grasset’s iconic version of “la vitrioleuse” is positioned at an angle across the picture plane in a manner similar to Japanese woodblock prints that showed actors. The woman's evil expression is reinforced by the horn-like curls of her hair, the ominous streaks of red in the sky, and the eerie greenish blue of her face, hand, and the acid she holds.
InscriptionsSigned in pencil l. r. margin: "E Grasset No. 41". Charpentier embossed stamp l. l. margin. Printer Verdoux, Ducourtiaux and Huillard (stamp l. c. of image).
Provenance1991, gift of Azita Bina-Seibel and Elmar W. Seibel, Boston, to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 18, 1991)