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A woman kneels to test the water in a freestanding bathtub with one hand as she braces a nude child against her knee with the other in this vertical, colored print. The people and objects are outlined lightly with brown for the bodies and black for the woman’s clothing. Both the woman and baby’s hair are incised with delicate black lines. The woman’s hair is pulled back from a high forehead, and she has a straight nose, pursed lips, and a slight double chin. Her long-sleeved, floor-length dress has a narrow collar and is pleated across the chest and at the cuff we can see. The dress is filled in with a field of bright lemon yellow and patterned with a floral design. The baby turns toward the woman’s body and hangs their arms over her bracing hand. The baby has short, wispy, black hair with delicate facial features, a rotund belly, and satisfyingly pudgy rolls on the legs. The tub is denim blue, and the water within a paler shade. There are some smudges across the paper, especially at the edges. A mark with an oval, or a mirrored C, over an uppercase M, is stamped in royal blue at the bottom center of the print. The sheet is inscribed with graphite across the right half of the bottom margin. Text reads, “Edition de 25 épreuves Imprimée par l’artiste et M. Leroy Mary Cassatt."

Mary Cassatt

The Bath, 1890-1891

Not on View

Medium

color drypoint and aquatint on laid paper

Dimensions

plate: 32.1 x 24.8 cm (12 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.)

sheet: 43.7 x 30.5 cm (17 3/16 x 12 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Catalogue Raisonné

Mathews and Shapiro 1989, no. 5, xvii/xvii

Accession Number

1963.10.248

Artists / Makers

Mary Cassatt (artist) American, 1844 - 1926

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower right in graphite: Edition de 25 épreuves Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy / Mary Cassatt

Exhibition History

1936: Mary Cassatt, Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, 1936, no. 31.

1965: Graphic Arts from the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1965.

1967: Miss Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Graphic Arts, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, 1967.

1970: Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970.

1977: Prints of Paris: The 1890s, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1977.

1998: Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no. 56, as The Child's Bath (shown only in Washington).

2006: Women in Impressionism: from Mythical Feminine to Modern Woman, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006 - 2007, no. 8.

Bibliography

1979: Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, no. 143, xi/xi.

1989: Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989, no. 5, xvii/xvii.

1998: Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman. Exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998-1999: no. 56.

2006: Søndergaard, Sidsel Maria. Women in Impressionism: from Mythical Feminine to Modern Woman. (Exh. cat. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 2006-2007). Milan, 2006, no. 8.