At the Theatre
- Medium
- Brush and black ink, with touches of graphite on tan wove paper
- Dimensions
- 24.8 × 32.6 cm (9 13/16 × 12 7/8 in.)
- Genre
- ink
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
drawings (visual works)inkprints and drawingcolored inkblack inkcoating (material)paper (fiber product)
About
This spare but finished drawing evocatively depicts a maid with a bib apron (suggested by the bleeding of the ink) pulling back a curtain. It has been identified as a study for Vuillard' s 1892 submission to the Livre d' Art, the illustrated periodical published by Paul Fort, founder of Theatre d' Art, the first forum for symbolist theater. Vuillard creates his image with a brilliant economy of means. A single line evokes the parted curtain-both a literal element of stagecraft and an emblem for theater itself. In addition, the line of the curtain cuts the page and calls attention to the flat surface of the drawing.
