The Coiffure

1890-1891

Mary Cassatt

Artist, American, 1844 - 1926

A pale-skinned woman, nude from the waist up, gathers her hair in her raised hands as she sits before a mirror in this vertical, colored print. The large mirror is to our right, and the woman’s body is mostly turned away from us. Her head is bowed but a loose tendril of brown hair hanging beside one cheek is reflected in the mirror. Her lower body is wrapped in a voluminous off-white cloth as she leans forward on a curved terracotta-red and white striped armchair. Her facial features, the contours of her body, and the folds of the towel are all delineated with thin strokes of tawny brown. The mirror is set into a tan wall, and the wall beyond and carpet below her covered with abstract floral patterns. The wall has a dusty-rose motif over lighter pink background while the carpet pattern is tan against muted dark pink background. The wall and chair are reflected in the mirror in paler tones. A mark with an oval, or a mirrored C, over an uppercase M, is stamped in royal blue at the bottom center of the print. The sheet is inscribed with graphite across the right half of the bottom margin, “Imprimée par l’artiste et M. Leroy Mary Cassatt (25 épreuves)."

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color drypoint and aquatint on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 36.5 x 26.7 cm (14 3/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
    sheet: 43.2 x 30.7 cm (17 x 12 1/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.257

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Mathews and Shapiro 1989, no. 14, v/v

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1936

  • Mary Cassatt, Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, 1936, no. 32.

1965

  • Graphic Arts from the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965.

1967

  • Miss Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Graphic Arts, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, 1967.

1989

  • Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamston, MA, 1989-1990, no. 14-V (NGA), repro.

1998

  • Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no. 65, as Study (shown only in Washington).

2016

  • Three Centuries of American Prints: from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Gallery in Prague, Prague 1; Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 2016 - 2017, no. 55.

2024

  • Mary Cassatt at Work, Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 2024-2025 (shown only in San Francisco).

Bibliography

1979

  • Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, no. 152, iv/iv.

1989

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989, no. 14, v/v.

1996

  • Slatkin, Wendy. Women Artists in History: From Antiquity to the Present. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1996: 142, fig. 13-5.

1998

  • Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman. Exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998-1999: 82, 84, no. 65.

2024

  • Thompson, Jennifer A. and Graber, Laureal, editors.Mary Cassatt at Work. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2024: 288.

Inscriptions

lower right in graphite: Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy / Mary Cassatt / (25 épreuves)

Wikidata ID

Q65511213

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