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Maternal Caress

Mixed-media print of a woman in a white dress sitting on a patterned couch holding a naked baby, with a bed in the background, and an inscription in the lower right side.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Mixed-media print of a woman in a white dress sitting on a patterned couch holding a naked baby, with a bed in the background, and an inscription in the lower right side.

Date:

1890–91

Artist:

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)
printed with Leroy (French, active 1876-1900)

About this artwork

Mary Cassatt began a series of ten color prints in 1890 that were intended for an 1891 exhibition at the influential Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. These prints exemplify the influence of Japanese color woodblock printmaking on her choice of composition, subject matter, and technique. In Maternal Caress, Cassatt portrayed a woman embracing her infant child. She rendered the figures and furniture as simplified, flattened shapes to allow the decorative elements—such as the floral patterns on the chair and wallpaper—and the limited color palette to predominate and set the warm mood of the scene.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Mary Cassatt

Title

Maternal Caress

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

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.

Made 1890–1891

Medium

Color aquatint with drypoint from three plates, partially printed à la poupée, on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 36.8 × 26.8 cm (14 1/2 × 10 9/16 in.); Sheet: 43.2 × 30.1 cm (17 1/16 × 11 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1932.1288

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/13531/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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