Press Release - Mona Bismarck | American Center

THE CHALLENGE OF PRINTMAKING
Organized thematically, this exhibition is displayed in the three galleries of the MBAC. The first
gallery introduces the artist, her favorite models and the different printmaking techniques she
employed. The second gallery illustrates the Japanese influence on Cassatt’s work, and the third
shows her pastel counterproofs. The Vollard collection includes multiple different states of prints,
which gives visitors a unique opportunity to follow the step-by-step development and evolution of
her works.
1 - The Printmaker’s "Kitchen"
In the 1870s, printmaking was considered a "minor" art, especially because of its reproducible
nature. Mary Cassatt, however, saw in it a tool of research with untapped potential. Thus, she
devoted herself diligently to the many possibilities of the medium, which played a major role in her
work. Her career as a printmaker really began in 1879 when she accepted an invitation from Degas to
join the Impressionist group in their fourth exhibition. Before then, she had only tried etching and
had not yet approached color sequences.
Cassatt’s first prints were made in 1879-80; they are accompanied in the exhibition by preparatory
drawings and show a strong desire for experimentation. The main themes of these works are:
theatre (for instance In the Opera Box or Two Young Ladies in a Loge, Facing Right), domestic life
(Mrs. Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren, Before the Fireplace, or Lydia at Afternoon Tea), family
scenes and upper-class daily activities. Unlike traditional printmaking, Mary Cassatt did not try to
define figures but rather to suggest their moods through the manipulation of shadow and light.
Indeed, the artist would often trace from a sheet of paper onto the copper plate so that the
freshness of her inspiration would show through.
In 1889, after several years of creating only a few prints, she started working in drypoint and
produced an important body of work, including Quietude and The Caress. Many of these drypoints
consist of a mostly bare surface covered by an inked veil that creates an atmosphere. Others, such as
The Mandolin Player and Tea, are more finished and demonstrate a more complete means of
pictorial expression.
2 - The Japanese Influence
Mary Cassatt refined her techniques in soft ground etching and aquatint in order to combine and mix
them in more ambitious color prints: a new direction she took after visiting the 1890 exhibition of
Japanese woodblock prints at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (with Berthe Morisot). The “set of
ten” color prints that resulted were exhibited at Durand-Ruel's gallery in April 1891. Degas and
Pissarro did not hide their admiration for these prints that revealed, in a way, the very steps of
Cassatt’s creative process.
Mary Cassatt appropriated the Japanese aesthetic and recreated it in European terms: the courtesan
thus became a modern European woman depicted scenes of her daily life. Not wishing to merely
imitate, Cassatt chose to work on copper plates rather than woodblock, devising an entirely new
method of color printing, the genesis of which can be seen in the different states of The Bath. The
different hues of the intermediate states, which vary from the final picture, are proof of the many
variations in her process.
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