The Little Mulatto

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The Little Mulatto

1911

Jacques Villon (Gaston Duchamp) (French, 1875–1963)

This portrait of Renée was traditionally called The Little Mulatto, because of the young girl's dark complexion. Villon made this work — a smaller version of the drypoint Renée, Three-Quarter View — as an etching, greatly increasing the number of lines that cross through and around the figure as well as over her face. By using etching (a technique in which the lines are drawn into a wax ground and bitten by acid), he was able to create fine lines more easily than he could with drypoint. Villon was developing a new sculptural treatment of figures at this time, and may have been testing the effects of a more "diagrammatic" network of lines over the figure.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

The Little Mulatto

Date:

1911

Artist:

Jacques Villon (Gaston Duchamp) (French, 1875–1963)

Medium:

Etching

Dimensions:

Plate: 9 x 7 7/16 inches (22.9 x 18.9 cm) Sheet: 14 1/8 x 10 13/16 inches (35.9 x 27.5 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation, 2001

Accession Number:

2001-9-6

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

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