Voyeurism
Images of women at their toilet offered the largely male printmakers access to a world that was normally closed to them, in which nude or semi-naked women with their hair let down believed themselves to be unobserved.
This voyeuristic pleasure was heightened by the choice of angles – viewed from above or from behind – and by the uninhibited poses adopted by the women as they washed themselves. Strategically positioned mirrors allowed the viewer to glimpse them from the front, too.
Intimate rituals
All the same, not every ‘toilet’ scene was explicitly erotic: printmakers also depicted the boudoir as a mental space with a distinct mood, where the woman could daydream undisturbed.
In this instance, washing and dressing represented a ‘silent ritual’ that encouraged the viewer to reflect and meditate.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Woman Combing her Hair, the Hairdo (Femme qui se peigne, la coiffure) from the series Elles, 1896
Maximilien Luce, Woman Doing her Hair (Femme se coiffant), 1894
James Pitcairn-Knowles, Trial proof of The Bath (Le bain) from the album L'Album des peintres-graveurs, 1896
Further reading
- Michelle Perrot, Philippe Ariès, Georges Duby, A History of Private Life IV. From the Fires of Revolution to the Great War, Cambridge 1990
- Susan Hollis Clayson, ‘Looking within the Cell of Privacy’, in Peter Parshall et al., The Darker Side of Light. Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900, London 2009
- Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen, Georges Vigarello, La toilette. Naissance de l'intime, Paris 2015