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The Bath

Mary Cassatt American
Printer Jointly printed by the artist and Monsieur LeRoy French
1890–91
Not on view
Cassatt printed the early impression of The Bath, exhibited nearby, from a single plate, but created this later impression with two separately inked and printed plates—one for tonal areas, one for drypoint lines and the tone of the mother’s dress. Cassatt described this work, the first in the series of ten she exhibited in Paris in 1891, as made "in imitation of Japanese art." Inspired by Ukiyo-e woodcuts, Cassatt colored her figures in flat unmodulated tones; contrasted with the yellow dress, the rippling water in the tub gains an unexpected illusionism. When the brothers Arthur and Paul J. Sachs gave early and final states of Cassatt’s set to the Department of Prints at its founding in 1916, the color states came from Paul and those printed in black ink from Arthur.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Bath
  • Artist: Mary Cassatt (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1844–1926 Le Mesnil-Théribus, Oise)
  • Printer: Jointly printed by the artist and Monsieur LeRoy (French, active 1875–1900)
  • Date: 1890–91
  • Medium: Drypoint, soft-ground etching and aquatint, printed in color from two plates; seventeenth state of seventeen (Mathews & Shapiro)
  • Dimensions: image: 11 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. (29.5 x 24.8 cm)
    sheet: 17 x 11 13/16 in. (43.2 x 30 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Paul J. Sachs, 1916
  • Object Number: 16.2.7
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Woman Bathing (La Toilette), Mary Cassatt American, Drypoint and aquatint, printed in color from three plates; fourth state of four (Mathews & Shapiro)
Woman Bathing (La Toilette)
Mary Cassatt
Printer Jointly printed by the artist and Monsieur LeRoy
1890–91
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Gathering Fruit, Mary Cassatt American, Drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint; printed in color on green paper from three plates; eleventh state of eleven (Mathews & Shapiro)
Gathering Fruit
Mary Cassatt
ca. 1893
Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly, Mary Cassatt American, Oil on canvas, American
Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly
Mary Cassatt
1880
Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat, Edgar Degas French, Graphite and black chalk
Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat
Edgar Degas
Sitter Edouard Manet
ca. 1868

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