Mary Cassatt — In the Omnibus

Three women, a baby, and the Seine going past the window.

The document

A nurse in brown holds a baby in white; a woman in a hat sits beside her and a child in a red-topped bonnet leans against the far side. Through the windows behind them, a bridge and the river. It is the only sheet in the ten set outside a private room, and the only one with a city in it. Everyone is occupied with the child or the journey; nobody is aware of being looked at.

The pencil at the bottom. Under the plate mark, in Cassatt's own hand: Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy — Mary Cassatt — (25 épreuves). Printed by the artist and M. Leroy, twenty-five impressions. The Japanese sheets she had been studying carried the printer's name beside the artist's, and she did the same. It is reproduced here because it is part of the object.

About the artist

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and spent her working life in France. She was the only American invited to exhibit with the Impressionists. In April 1890 she saw an exhibition of 725 Japanese prints at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, wrote to Berthe Morisot telling her not to miss it, and spent the following year teaching herself to do in copper what she had seen done in woodblock. She printed the results herself, at the press, alongside a professional printer, and signed each sheet in pencil.

The print

Printed to order and made to last. Choose Museum Matte (heavyweight matte art paper) or Fine Art Giclée (Hahnemühle cotton paper — the archival standard). The Métrica museum caption — artist, title, date and source — is printed as part of the piece, set in our house type. Free US shipping on orders over $75.

Mary Cassatt, In the Omnibus, colour aquatint and drypoint, 1890–91. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1932.1289. Public domain.