Art Institute of Chicago

Mary Cassatt in the Paintings Gallery at the Louvre

Edgar Degas

Date

1879–80

Medium

Etching, soft ground etching, aquatint, and drypoint on grayish-ivory wove paper

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This print signals the close friendship between Edgar Degas and fellow Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. The two artists experimented with print­making techniques, which Degas used to create this image of Cassatt as a confident modern woman enjoying the painting galleries of the Musee du Louvre, Paris. She is accompanied by a figure who is probably her sister Lydia. Degas, like Cassatt, collected Japanese prints, and the vertical format, pillared framing device, rear silhouettes, and fanning skirt in this print are strikingly japoniste features.

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