The Fitting

Expand

IIIFView PDF

The Fitting

Artist Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)

Date1890-1891

Dimensions14 3/4 × 9 7/8 in. (37.5 × 25.1 cm)

MediumDrypoint and 10-color aquatint on laid paper

ClassificationPrints

Credit Line10Prudence and Edward Lamb Fund

Object number

2020.21

Not on View

Label TextThe 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).Published ReferencesBarter, Judith A., ed., Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 1998, pl. 60.

Breeskin, Adelyn D., The Graphic Work of Mary Cassatt, New York, H. Bittner and Co., 1948, cat. 147, pp. 73-74.

Getlein, Frank, Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints, New York, Abbeville Press, 1980, pp. 84, repr. (col.).

Lees, Sarah and Richard R. Brettell, Innovative Impressions: Prints by Cassatt, Degas, and Pissarro, Munich, Hirmer Publishers, 2018, pl. 88.

“Mary Cassatt – Selected Color Prints,” n.d., Washington DC, National Gallery of Art, Link to resource

Mathews, Nancy Mowll and Barbara Stern Shapiro, Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1989, cat. 9, pp. 125-131, pp. 131, repr. (col.).

Mazur, Michael, “The Case for Cassatt”, The Print Collector’s Newsletter, Vol. 20, no. 6, January-February 1990, pp. 197-201, pp. 200, repr.

Pfeiffer, Ingred and Max Hollein, eds., Women Impressionists, Berlin, Hatje Cantz, 2008, pp. 196, repr. (col.).

Rosen, Marc and Susan Pinsky, eds., Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Artist’s Studio, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000, pp. 86-90, repr. (col.).

--, Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Collection of Ambroise Vollard, New York, Adelson Galleries, 2008, pl. 90 (c.f.).

Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Mary Cassatt and Philadelphia, February 17 – April 14, 1985.

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Williamstown, Williams Collage Museum of Art; Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints, 1989–1990.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, 1998-99.

New York, Adelson Galleries; Houston, Meredith Long and Company, Artist’s Studio: Unknown Prints and Drawings by Mary Cassatt, 2000.

Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt; San Francisco, Legion of Honor, Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond, 2008.

Yokohama, Japan, Yokohama Museum of Art; Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, Mary Cassatt Retrospective, 2016.

Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Mary Cassatt: An American Impressionist in Paris, March 9 – July 23, 2018.

Tulsa, Philbrook Museum of Art, Innovative Impressions: Prints by Cassatt, Degas, and Pissarro, June 9 – September 9, 2018.