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Mary Cassatt

Standing Nude with a Towel, ca. 1879

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Standing Nude with a Towel

Year

ca. 1879

Medium

Soft-ground etching and aquatint on cream-colored, moderately textured laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

Image/plate: 27.8 x 21.8 cm (10 15/16 x 8 9/16 inches)

Identification

State

state 1/4

Type

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

2008.88.2

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Altered States

June 30 - December 3, 2017

Cassatt printed states, or variations on the same plate, primarily as a means of technical experimentation. Rather than developing the composition or working toward a resolved appearance, as most artists did with states, this image of a nude model—an unusual subject for a female artist at this time—was gradually abstracted in later states. Edgar Degas, an artist keenly interested in process, was the original owner of these two impressions, and described such works by Cassatt as “delightful graphic experiments.” Cassatt herself later remarked to her biographer, “[Etching] is what teaches you to draw.”

Changing Poses

November 12, 2010 - June 6, 2011

Although Mary Cassatt frequently worked with hired models for her scenes of mothers and children, depictions of the nude are rare within her work. This relatively early piece thus represents an adventurous choice of subject for Cassatt, and indeed for any female artist of her time. Cassatt settled in Paris in 1874 in order to pursue art-making with greater social freedom than America allowed at that time, but she nonetheless was subject to many of the conventions that had hindered the
careers of earlier women. In 1879 and 1880, Cassatt studied with Edgar Degas, whose many similar depictions of young women bathing may have inspired her to attempt the subject herself.

Related

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Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Standing Nude with a Towel with the accession number of 2008.88.2. To request a higher resolution file, please submit an online request.