Afternoon Tea Party

Afternoon Tea Party is a pivotal color print created by Mary Cassatt between 1890 and 1891. This exquisite piece demonstrates the American artist’s ambitious command of sophisticated printmaking techniques, combining color drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint. Cassatt further enhanced the visual texture by applying subtle touches of gold metallic paint on the laid paper support. This complex method allowed the artist to achieve a delicate balance of color and texture that mimics the appearance of a watercolor or pastel drawing, setting her work apart in the late 19th-century art world. The technical ingenuity involved underscores her dedication to the revival and elevation of color prints during this era.

Executed during the period spanning 1876 to 1900, the work reflects Cassatt’s characteristic interest in the domestic lives and formal social interactions of women. While depicting a commonplace ritual of polite society, the composition emphasizes the intimate and sometimes constrained nature of these specialized settings. Cassatt drew heavily on Japanese ukiyo-e prints for inspiration, particularly in her use of flat color planes and simplified forms, visible in her approach to Afternoon Tea Party. This fusion of Impressionist sensibilities with graphic Japanese aesthetics became a definitive hallmark of the artist's style during the 1890s. As one of the preeminent American exponents of Impressionism, Cassatt ensured that her prints reached a wide audience, contributing significantly to the democratization of art distribution.

Classified specifically as a print, this artwork stands as a major achievement in fin-de-siècle graphic arts. Its technical complexity and sensitive portrayal of domestic life solidified Cassatt’s reputation as a master printmaker. This important American print is housed in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, where it serves as a crucial example of the collaboration between innovative technique and modern subject matter. Today, reproductions of such significant prints are often accessible for viewing and study, with influential works sometimes falling into the public domain, allowing broader access to the artist's lasting contribution to the medium.