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 an off-white background with washes of light gray while the carpet pattern is tan over a peach background. The wall and chair are reflected in the mirror in paler tones.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color drypoint and aquatint on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 36.6 x 26.7 cm (14 7/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
    sheet: 43.3 x 30.2 cm (17 1/16 x 11 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1943.3.2758

  • Catalogue Raisonné

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

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1948

  • Amercan Graphic Art from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948.

1950

  • Prints by Mary Cassatt. Rosenwald Collection and gift of Miss Elisabeth Achelis, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1950.

1958

  • Color Etchings and Aquatints by Mary Cassatt, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine, 1958.

1963

  • Prints and Drawings by Mary Cassatt. From the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1963.

1964

  • Prints by Mary Cassatt, organized by the Smithsonian Travelling Exhibition Service and circulated to 10 venues (Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY; Norton Gallery & School of Art, Palm Beach, FL; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; Charles & Emma Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH; Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, Columbus, OH; Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA; and A.D. White Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY), 1964-1965.

1970

  • Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970.

1973

  • Whistler, Casstt and Hassam: Three American Printmakers, Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ, 1973.

  • Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA, 1973-1974.

2002

  • Defining Influence: Japonisme & the Western Artist, Sweet Briar College, Anne Gary Pannell Center Gallery, Sweet Briar, VA, 2002.

2006

  • Women in Impressionism: from Mythical Feminine to Modern Woman., Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 2006 - 2007, no. 10.

2009

  • The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2009, unnumbered catalogue.

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.

2002

  • McKinny, Gwen M. Defining Influence: Japonisme and the Western Artist. Sweet Briar, VA, 2002.

2006

  • Søndergaard, Sidsel Maria. Women in Impressionism: from Mythical Feminine to Modern Woman. (Exh. cat. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 2006-2007). Milan, 2006, no. 10.

2009

  • Munroe, Alexandra. The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989. Exh. cat. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2009.

Inscriptions

recto: at lower left in graphite in later hand: C; verso: none

Markings

recto: none; verso: National Gallery of Art (Lugt 1932d)

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q64960365

You may be interested in

Loading Results