After-Dinner Coffee (recto); After-Dinner Coffee (verso)

After-Dinner Coffee (recto); After-Dinner Coffee (verso) by Mary Cassatt is an intricate graphite drawing created between 1884 and 1894. This highly important preparatory sketch, currently housed in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, showcases Cassatt's meticulous approach to composition and figure study. The extensive ten-year span noted in the execution of the work suggests that it was used by Cassatt for developing figures or studying poses that would potentially inform later finished paintings or prints.

Cassatt, a foundational figure in the Impressionist movement and one of the most prominent American artists operating primarily in France, focused much of her artistic output on the private domestic lives of women and children. The medium of graphite emphasizes crisp line work and tonal contrasts, allowing the artist to quickly map out the precise spatial relationships implied by the title. The designation of both a recto and a verso confirms the piece’s nature as a working study, where the artist leveraged the paper fully to explore multiple aspects of a scene.

As a critical example of American Impressionism, this drawing highlights the importance of preliminary studies in Cassatt’s process. The fluidity and detailed observation evident in the graphite marks reveal why the artist is recognized as one of the most significant figures from the United States working in the late nineteenth century. Though often celebrated for her masterful oil paintings and color etchings, works like After-Dinner Coffee (recto); After-Dinner Coffee (verso) demonstrate Cassatt's profound foundational skill as a draftsman.