Lot 79

Lots 79 to 84 are works in the medium for which Mary Cassatt received the following lofty praise from a New York critic in 1898: "...Cassatt has produced a series of etchings and dry-points of great distinction, and a number of the latter...are among the most delightful color prints of our time. This last method, of combining an outline in dry-point with colors, applied in aquatint, she may be said to have made her own to such a degree that it would be temerarious for any one to dispute the field with her." Mother's Kiss, Woman Bathing and In the Omnibus belong to the renowned set of ten images with which Cassatt in 1890 embarked on her most significant exploration of color printing. The immediate inspiration for her series was the vast exhibition of Japanese woodcuts that opened at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris earlier that year. As well as adopting the idea for an album of prints of related subjects, she incorporated certain compositional and thematic devices from the Ukiyo-e woodcuts she saw. Most importantly, the Japanese woodcuts challenged her to introduce color into her print repertoire which until that time had been focused almost exclusively on black and white intaglios. A 1906 letter in which Cassatt writes of the 1890-1 color aquatints reveals the experimental nature of these works and points to certain features she would build upon in subsequent color prints (see lots 82-4). "I drew the outline in drypoint and laid on a grain where color was to be applied, then colored à la poupée...poupée--the little rag doll with which the color is applied to the plate...I was entirely ignorant of the method when I began, and, as all the plates were colored by me, I varied sometimes the manner of applying the color. The set of ten plates was done with the intention of attempting an imitation of Japanese methods..." Unlike the set of ten 1890-1 images that Cassatt and her dealer, Durand-Ruel, initially marketed as limited edition sets, Gathering Fruit, Banjo Lesson and Peasant Mother and Child were printed in editions of varying sizes and were offered individually. Cassatt hired the master printer Leroy to help with the final editioning of her first color set; she typically acknowledged his skilled assistance with a pencil inscription in the bottom margin of each sheet (see lots 79-81). In these first color aquatints Cassatt regularly added her monogram stamp at the bottom platemark and often signed her name. Mathews and Shapiro point out that impressions reserved for friends and relatives--such as the Scotts--generally do not have a full pencil signature. Information regarding edition sizes and any collaborations with master printers is less well documented for the prints executed after 1891. For example, Banjo Lesson and Peasant Mother and Child were purported to come from editions of at least forty but very few impressions have been located. Today examples of Cassatt's color prints rarely appear on the commercial market.

MARY CASSATT

Mother's Kiss (B. 149; Mathews and Shapiro 11)

Details

MARY CASSATT
Mother's Kiss (B. 149; Mathews and Shapiro 11)
drypoint and aquatint in colors, 1890-1, on laid paper, a very good impression, fifth (final) state, inscribed 'Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy', with the artist's blue monogram stamp (L. 604), from the edition of about 25, with full margins, some very pale and unobtrusive staining showing mostly at the top and bottom (possibly touched with pastel in places), a tiny skinned spot near the left platemark, extremely pale, scattered foxing showing mostly on the reverse, otherwise in good condition
P. 13 1/4 x 9 in. (336 x 228mm.)

Provenance

Gift from the artist to her second cousin, Mrs. Thomas A. Scott
Thence by descent to Edgar Scott, her grandson

Lot Essay

Fifteen impressions of the final state of Mother's Kiss are recorded by Mathews and Shapiro. This impression was previously unrecorded. This image may have been the second in the series of ten produced by Cassatt between 1890 and 1891.