Mary Cassatt — Woman Bathing

The sheet Degas was looking at when he asked whether she had modelled the back.

The document

A woman stands at a washstand, stripped to the waist, bending over the basin, her back turned to us and the mirror above catching part of her face. The dress falls in green and rose stripes, the rug is patterned, the pitcher is patterned; nothing is neutral. Standing in front of this sheet, Degas asked her: Ce dos, vous l'avez modelé ? — that back, did you model it? There is no shadow in it at all. The back turns on the strength of the line.

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, Woman Bathing, colour aquatint and drypoint, 1890–91. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1932.1281. Public domain.