Frontispiece - Yvette Guilbert before the Prompter's Box

In the pictureOn almost blank white paper, a woman's profile is drawn in a few black lines. There are only the outlines of a long-gloved arm, upswept hair, and shoulders, and in front of her the prompter's box, set into the stage floor, sits at an angle. On the left is the large signature "Yvette Guilbert," and at the lower right, small, the artist's signature.

BackgroundYvette Guilbert was a star singer of the Paris café-concerts of the 1890s, and her trademarks were long black gloves, a thin figure, and exaggerated expressions. Lautrec drew her countless times, and this print is the first page of the second Yvette Guilbert album, published in London in 1898. It catches her standing beside the prompter's box, set into the floor at the front of the stage to feed actors their lines; Lautrec's skill lies in using lines so sparingly while still making the figure instantly recognizable.

Puzzle tipBecause the paper is nearly blank, this is among the hardest kinds of puzzle. If you pick out every piece with a line on it, you will have only ten or so, and the rest must be fitted by faint stains on the paper and piece shape alone. 24 pieces is recommended, and running the shadowed pieces at the paper's edge around first, then filling the inside, is about the quickest way.