Art Institute of Chicago

Maternal Caress

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)

Date

1890–91

Medium

Color aquatint and drypoint, with softground, on ivory laid paper

Culture

United States

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Mary Cassatt began a series of ten color prints in 1890 that were intended for an 1891 exhibition at the influential Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. These prints exemplify the influence of Japanese color woodblock printmaking on her choice of composition, subject matter, and technique. In Maternal Caress , Cassatt portrayed a woman embracing her infant child. She rendered the figures and furniture as simplified, flattened shapes to allow the decorative elements—such as the floral patterns on the chair and wallpaper—and the limited color palette to predominate and set the warm mood of the scene.

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