Maternal Caress
Mary Cassatt1890/1891
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Washington, D.C., United States
A prolific and innovative printmaker, Mary Cassatt created this work as one of a series of 10 color prints intended for an 1891 exhibition at the influential Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. Cassatt had challenged herself to imitate the methods of Japanese prints that she had seen on view in Paris the year before. The resulting series, which also includes “The Bath,” reflect both the techniques and subjects Cassatt admired.
“Maternal Caress” is one of many mother and child images for which Cassatt earned international renown. She initially experimented with the mother and child theme in the 1880s, inspired by the relationship between her sister-in-law and nephew. A decade later, Cassatt was regarded a specialist on the subject. Observing from real life, Cassatt developed the ability to capture a pose quickly, a necessary talent given the active nature of young children.
- Title: Maternal Caress
- Creator: Mary Cassatt
- Creator Lifespan: 1844/1926
- Creator Gender: Female
- Creator Death Place: Le Mesnil-Theribus, France
- Creator Birth Place: Allegheny City, Pennsylvania
- Date: 1890/1891
- artist profile: Recognized as one of the foremost 19th-century American painters and printmakers, Mary Cassatt is known for her prolific career and Impressionist artwork. A native of Pennsylvania who lived as an expatriate in Paris beginning in 1874, Cassatt started formal training as a painter in 1861. In 1865, she took her first trip to Europe, where she would remain for the next four years, traveling and studying in Paris, Rome, and Madrid. In 1868, her painting “A Mandolin Player” became her first work to be accepted by the Paris Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Edgar Degas saw Cassatt’s work at the Salon, and in 1877 he asked her to exhibit with the Impressionists. Cassatt’s painting style and subject matter changed greatly because of her association with Impressionism. She abandoned colorful costume genre depictions in favor of scenes from contemporary life. Two years later, Cassatt and other artists, including Degas, Félix Braquemond, and Camille Pissarro, experimented with graphic techniques in the hopes of creating a new print journal. Although the journal never came to fruition, this work became very important to Cassatt in her development as a printmaker and a painter. Throughout the latter half of the 1880s, Cassatt produced etchings and drypoints of members of her family. Her failing eyesight prevented her from working for the last 15 years of her life, but because she had been an exceptionally prolific printmaker, she produced more than 220 prints during the course of her career.
- Training: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1861–65
- Style: Impressionism
- Physical Dimensions: w10.5625 x h14.5 in (Without frame)
- Type: Print
- Rights: Gift of John and Linda Comstock in loving memory of Abigail Pearson Van Vleck; Photography by Lee Stalsworth
- Medium: Drypoint, aquatint, and softground etching on paper
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