Gathering Fruit
Artist
Mary Cassatt
(American, 1844-1926)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1893
MediumDrypoint, soft-ground and aquatint in colors, on paper
Dimensions20 × 15 1/2 in. (50.8 × 39.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 26 7/8 × 21 5/8 × 1 1/4 in. (68.3 × 54.9 × 3.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 26 7/8 × 21 5/8 × 1 1/4 in. (68.3 × 54.9 × 3.2 cm)
SignedEleventh and final state, signed in pencil "Mary Cassatt" in lower right just outside the plate mark.
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds given by the Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art
Object number2022.28
Collections
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a color print on paper of two women and a child in a garden. A woman atop a ladder is handing an apple down to the child who is held in the other woman's arms.Label TextMary Cassatt American, 1844–1926 Gathering Fruit, ca. 1893 Drypoint, soft-ground etching,and aquatint in colors Peasant Mother and Child, ca. 1894 Drypoint and aquatint in colors Mary Cassatt produced her first portfolio of ten color prints, which featured scenes of modern public and domestic life in Paris, in 1890–91. After this initial group, Cassatt produced only eight or so additional color prints, including these two works. Gathering Fruit was based on the central panel of a mural that Cassatt created for the Woman’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The complex figural arrangement highlights Cassatt’s achievement at balancing pattern, color, and line, as well as her skill in employing a wide variety of printmaking techniques. Peasant Mother and Child is one of the latest color prints that Cassatt created. The work is left unfinished at the bottom, allowing insights into the artist’s working methods. Museum purchase with funds given by the Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art 2022.28 and 2022.27ProvenancePrivate Collection, Chicago, Illinois to CMA.Exhibition HistoryArt Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, n.d. "Mary Cassatt: New Impressions," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, March 10 - May 21, 2023. "A Shared Vision: The Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, December 8, 2023 — March 10, 2024.Published ReferencesN.M. Mathews, B.S. Shapiro, Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints, 15 XI/XI.
