Art Institute of Chicago
The Child's Bath
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926)LinkedCulture matchlcp-1a8df4849ac8
- Date
- 1893
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- France
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 111442
The Child’s Bath is a tender portrayal of familial closeness, a subject that Mary Cassatt explored throughout her career. The caregiver’s cheek brushing the child’s shoulder, her encircling embrace, and the child’s pudgy hand on her knee suggest an emotional bond between the two. Captivated by a large exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris in 1890, Cassatt set out to produce a series of color prints influenced by Japanese aesthetics. She then continued her investigation across media, culminating in this bold composition, with its dramatically flattened picture plane, decorative patterning, and bright palette.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Robert A. Waller Fund
- Provenance
- The artist; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, November 24, 1893 [Paris 2015]; sold to Harris Whittemore, CT, January 17, 1894 [Paris 2015]; sold by him back to Durand-Ruel, New York, February 4, 1899 [Paris 2015]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1910.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033618
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