The Bath

1890-1891

Mary Cassatt

Artist, American, 1844 - 1926

A woman kneels to test the water in a freestanding bathtub with one hand as she braces a nude child against her knee with the other in this vertical, colored print. The people and objects are outlined lightly with brown for the bodies and black for the woman’s clothing. Both the woman and baby’s hair are incised with delicate black lines. The woman’s hair is pulled back from a high forehead, and she has a straight nose, pursed lips, and a slight double chin. Her long-sleeved, floor-length dress has a narrow collar and is pleated across the chest and at the cuff we can see. The dress is filled in with a field of lemon yellow and patterned with a floral design. The baby turns toward the woman’s body and hangs their arms over her bracing hand. The baby has short, wispy, black hair with delicate facial features, a rotund belly, and satisfyingly pudgy rolls on the legs. The tub and water within are pale blue. There are some smudges across the paper, especially at the edges.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 32.07 × 24.77 cm (12 5/8 × 9 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1943.3.2741

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Mathews and Shapiro 1989, no. 5, xi/xvii


Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1951

  • Mary Cassatt and her Parisian Friends, Pasadena Art Institute, CA, 1951, no. 36.

Bibliography

1979

  • Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, no. 143, ix/xi.

1989

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989, no. 5, xi/xvii.

Wikidata ID

Q64960335


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