Mary Cassatt

Sitting beneath a tree, a woman holds up a small child as their gazes interlock. Intimate depictions of mothers and children such as this one were central to the work of Cassatt, an American who trained and permanently settled in France.

After visiting an exhibition of Japanese prints in 1890, Cassatt was inspired to revisit the technique of multi-plate color aquatint, which had peaked in popularity about a century earlier. Cassatt sought to create the flat planes of color and bold compositions of Japanese woodcuts. By selectively inking certain areas of the plates, such as the child’s hair, she extended the color range of this image, which was printed from three plates.

It was important that the Museum, with over 20,000 works on paper, possess at least one color print by Mary Cassatt. Although she did not make prints until twenty years into her career, they were an important part of her oeuvre. In the 1890s, Cassatt started using aquatint with drypoint. According to legend, Cassatt experimented with this image and printed the three unique impressions on a small etching press at her country estate in Beaufresne, France. Later, Cassatt collaborated with a professional printer to incorporate a few bright colors and to publish a small edition of forty-five prints; thus it is considered rare and important work.