The Fitting
Artist: Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)
Date: 1890-1891
Dimensions:
14 3/4 × 9 7/8 in. (37.5 × 25.1 cm)
Medium: Drypoint and 10-color aquatint on laid paper
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Prudence and Edward Lamb Fund
Object number: 2020.21
Label Text:The Fitting is an intimate portrayal of an interaction between women of different classes—an upper-middle class woman and her tailor. Combining an oblique perspective, the juxtaposition of intricate patterns, and the device of a reflection in a mirror to create visual tension, the print is regarded as a technical tour-de-force. Cassatt mixed the colors for the print herself and painted directly onto the etched metal plate before the image was printed onto paper. Each impression from the plate, therefore, is unique.
This print belongs to a series of 10 prints Cassatt made in response to an 1890 exhibition in Paris of color woodblock prints by 18th-century Japanese artists. She explained that she made the series “with the intention of attempting an imitation of Japanese methods.” She echoes the flattening approach to space, colors, and use of patterns characteristic of many of the Japanese woodblock artists, as well as the contrasting standing and kneeling figures frequently found in the prints of Kitigawa Utamaro (see illustration).
This print belongs to a series of 10 prints Cassatt made in response to an 1890 exhibition in Paris of color woodblock prints by 18th-century Japanese artists. She explained that she made the series “with the intention of attempting an imitation of Japanese methods.” She echoes the flattening approach to space, colors, and use of patterns characteristic of many of the Japanese woodblock artists, as well as the contrasting standing and kneeling figures frequently found in the prints of Kitigawa Utamaro (see illustration).
Not on view