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The Child's Bath

Painting of mother in blue, purple, and green-stripped dress washing child's feet.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Painting of mother in blue, purple, and green-stripped dress washing child's feet.

Date:

1893

Artist:

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926)

About this artwork

The Child’s Bath is a tender portrayal of familial closeness, a subject that Mary Cassatt explored throughout her career. The caregiver’s cheek brushing the child’s shoulder, her encircling embrace, and the child’s pudgy hand on her knee suggest an emotional bond between the two.

Captivated by a large exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris in 1890, Cassatt set out to produce a series of color prints influenced by Japanese aesthetics. She then continued her investigation across media, culminating in this bold composition, with its dramatically flattened picture plane, decorative patterning, and bright palette.

Status

On View, Gallery 273

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Mary Cassatt

Title

The Child's Bath

Place

France (Place depicted)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1893

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed lower left: "Mary Cassatt"

Dimensions

100.3 × 66.1 cm (39 1/2 × 26 in.)

Credit Line

Robert A. Waller Fund

Reference Number

1910.2

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/111442/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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