Mary Cassatt
Early Graphic Works: 1878-1891
Fall 2011
Cover Image: In the Opera Box (No. 3), 1878, softground, aquatint & etching
The Bouquet, (1st State), about 1880
Soft-ground and aquatint
242 x 165 mm.; 9 9/16 x 6 1/2 inches
In the Opera Box (No. 2), (1st State), about 1880
Soft ground and etching
212 x 158 mm.; 8 3/8 x 6 1/4 inches
Signed, lower right
Mr. Gardner Cassatt Reading the Paper, about 1883
Etching and drypoint
276 x 174 mm.; 10 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches
The Map (The Lesson), (trial proof of 3rd State), 1890
Drypoint
157 x 233 mm.; 6 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches
Signed, lower right, and annotated “état”
This exhibition includes 44 early prints by Mary Cassatt.
These extraordinary works highlight a previously overlooked aspect of Cassatt’s oeuvre. With parallels in subjects and treatments found in the graphic works of Degas and Pissarro from the same years, Cassatt's etchings were as original in conception, and revolutionary and avant-garde as those of her two closest colleagues. Through the creation of these pieces, she cemented a major position for herself in the Impressionist movement.