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Édouard Manet

The Cats (Les Chats)

Maker

Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)

Title

The Cats (Les Chats)
Les Chats

Year

1868-1869 (probably printed later)

Medium

  • Etching and aquatint on cream-colored,
  • moderately textured laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Etching and aquatint on cream-colored,
  • moderately textured laid paper

Materials

etching

Supports

  • Medium weight cream laid paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 18 x 22.3 cm (7 1/16 x 8 3/4 inches)

Identification

State

only state

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

58.031

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Altered States
Etching in Late 19th-Century Paris
Jun 30, 2017 – Dec 03, 2017

Label copy

Manet used the plate for this print the same way he would have used a page in one of his many sketchbooks: to record images to incorporate into his paintings and drawings. Cats-especially his own-were among Manet’s favorite subjects to sketch, and this print may well have been produced as a private exercise for his own enjoyment. The composition here is unusual, as Manet’s prints often had a finished appearance. This aesthetic may help explain why only a few impressions were made of the plate during the artist’s lifetime, with formal editions printed only after his death.

Japonisme
The Influence of Japanese Art on the West
Nov 04, 1994 – Jan 22, 1995

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
The Cats (Les Chats); Les Chats, 1868-1869 (probably printed later)
Etching and aquatint on cream-colored, moderately textured laid paper
Image/plate: 18 x 22.3 cm (7 1/16 x 8 3/4 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 58.031

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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