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.

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