Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Under the Horse Chestnut Tree
Drypoint and aquatint in color, ca. 1896
Prints & Photographs Division
Pennell Fund purchase (139.10)

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
In the Omnibus
Drypoint and aquatint, 1890-1891
Prints & Photographs Division
Purchase (140.12)

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Gathering Fruit
Drypoint and aquatint in color, ca. 1893
Prints & Photographs Division
Pennell Fund purchase (140.11)

Mary Cassatt has long been celebrated as the only American artist among the core group of French Impressionists, and one of the rare women in that movement. Under the thrall of Japanese woodcuts she had seen at the École des Beaux-Arts, Cassatt embarked on a set of experimental color intaglio prints that are considered among the finest of her works in any medium. The stylistic idiom of Japonisme is underscored here by the flattened modeling, bold outlining, and the oblique perspective of her composition.

The print Gathering Fruit by Impressionist Mary Cassatt is one of a series of works by the artist that relates closely to her commissioned mural for the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 on the theme of the "Modern Woman." The original mural (which now survives only in photographic reproductions) was composed of three allegorical scenes entitled: "Arts, Music, Dancing;" "Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science;" and "Young Girls Pursuing Fame." Gathering Fruit is based on the mural's central panel showing women and young girls harvesting fruit in an orchard--a symbolic gathering and sharing of the "fruits of knowledge."