The Letter

1890-1891

Mary Cassatt

Artist, American, 1844 - 1926

We look slightly down onto a young woman sitting at a writing desk as she licks an envelope in this vertical, color print. A table folds down or extends from a tall secretary desk to our right. The blotter on the table and the woman’s long dress are both cobalt blue. The dress has a vaguely floral pattern in white, and the jacket is open to reveal a vertically pleated, beige-pink shirt beneath. The woman’s skin is faintly tinted peach. Her black hair is pulled back over dark brows and a delicate nose. She holds the open flap of the envelope to her mouth with both hands. A piece of white paper lies on the desktop in front of her. She sits in a brown chair, and the wallpaper of the room is patterned with green and muted pink flowers against a white background. 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)."

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Childs Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1956; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1982

  • American Impressionist Prints, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1982, no. 4.

1983

  • Mary Cassatt: Impressionist from Philadelphia, Sunrise Museum, Charleton, WV, 1983.

1984

  • La Femme: The Influence of Whistler and Japanese Print Masters on American Art, 1880-1917, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN, 1984-1985.

1989

  • Under Pressure: Western Printmaking from the 15th Century to the Present, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 1989-1990, p. 23, repro.

2002

  • The Gilded Cage: Views of American Women, 1873-1921, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2002.

2003

  • The Impressionist Tradition in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003-2004.

2015

  • Focus on the Corcoran: Works on Paper, 1860-1990, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2015.

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. 53.

Bibliography

1979

  • Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, p. 63, no. 146, iii/iii.

1989

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989, pp. 121-125, no. 8, iv/iv.

2016

  • National Gallery of Art. Highlights from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 2016: 254, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right in graphite: Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy / Mary Cassatt / (25 épreuves); lower left verso in graphite by unknown hand: a68205; lower center verso in graphite by unknown hand: 3304

Markings

stamped lower center plate in blue ink: MC [the artist's monogram]

Wikidata ID

Q77008383

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