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The Child's Bath, 1893
Oil on canvas, 100.3 x 66.1 cm (39 1/2 x 26 in. )
Robert A. Waller Fund, 1910.2
Gallery 273
NEW LABEL TEXT (9/8/06): In this work, Mary Cassatt addressed the theme of women and children, for which she is best known, while also experimenting with elements derived from Japanese art. In 1890, after viewing a large exhibition of Japanese prints at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she produced a series of prints influenced by their aesthetics. The Child's Bath is a culmination of these sensibilities, which emphasize decorative pattern and a flattened picture plane. Moreover, the subject mirrors that of many Japanese prints, which capture intimate scenes of everyday life. In Cassatt's painting, the mother's encircling arms and gentle touch convey an overall feeling of protection and tenderness. OLD TEXT: Born outside Pittsburgh, Mary Cassatt lived most of her adult life in France. Her work was exhibited in Paris for the first time at the 1872 Salon, and was included in the annual Impressionist exhibitions from 1879 to 1886. Like the Impressionists, Cassatt studied the transformative effects of light on form, and she was influenced by Japanese prints, from which she derived her characteristic manipulation of perspective and bold use of patterns. Cassatt began depicting intimate yet unsentimental scenes of mothers and children in the late 1880s. These paintings have been interpreted by some scholars as a reworking of the Madonna and Child theme.
| Classifications: | american arts, painting. |
| Subjects: | children, domestic scenes, emotions, everyday life (genre), impressionist, portraits, water, women. |
| Artists: | Mary Cassatt. |
| Media: | oil. |
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