In Front of the Mirror (recto) (c. 1891–92): Art, History and Details

In Front of the Mirror (recto) (c. 1891–92) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868–1940).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

During the early 1890s, Édouard Vuillard repeatedly represented his mother and older sister, Marie, in domestic settings. This drawing relates to a pastel and painting, all of which show Marie standing before a mirror, raising her arms as if to adjust her hairstyle. A charcoal study of a nude male appears on the verso, suggesting that the artist may have reused the sheet.

Object facts

• Title: In Front of the Mirror (recto)
• Date: c. 1891–92
• Creator attribution: Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868–1940)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pastel
• Dimensions: Sheet: 34.8 x 27.2 cm (13 11/16 x 10 11/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2018.77.a

A detail from the museum

Vuillard created this portrait of his sister Marie while she was living at home and working with their mother at her corset- and dressmaking business.

Collection credit

Bequest of William Kelly Simpson

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.