Albert Besnard

In this refined vision of drug use, two young women stare blankly at the viewer, surrounded by morphine paraphernalia. A highly addictive drug, morphine was so popular in late 19th-century Paris that one contemporary critic described it as “high-society alcoholism.” Besnard’s image was alternatively titled The Plume, referring both to the feather one woman uses to fan away the drug’s odor and the dramatic wisp of smoke that encircles the pair. Here the trail of smoke and other highlighted areas were created by applying an acid-resistant varnish to the plate (called “stopping out”), allowing the lines to appear as a striking negative space.