They told her beauty could be purchased in a tin: a clearer complexion, a fashionable pallor, a face worth admiring.
She wasn’t vain. She trusted the promise.
Now she hovers above the little cemetery where her name has already been carved, still holding Dr. Watson’s Arsenic Complexion Wafers in both hands. Warm light rises from the graveyard beneath her, catching her pale dress and wild white hair.
What Beauty Cost Her is a one-of-a-kind illuminated sculptural assemblage created inside an antique wooden clock case. The ghost girl, her hands, and the miniature cemetery were sculpted and painted by hand. Weathered gravestones, stone pillars, iron fencing, moss, dried botanicals, and scattered autumn leaves complete the scene.
The carved clock case is preserved as part of the artwork, including the age marks and irregularities it acquired during its earlier life.
- Approximately 27 × 14 inches
- Integrated warm lighting
- Signed and dated
- Ready to hang