The Barefooted Child

The Barefooted Child is a sensitive and intricate color print created by Mary Cassatt American, 1844-1926, between 1896 and 1898. Cassatt, an American Impressionist who spent much of her career living and working in France, was renowned for her mastery of complex graphic arts. This particular piece utilizes drypoint and aquatint, rendered in color upon off-white laid paper. The combination of drypoint allowed for precise, delicate linear work, while the aquatint provided rich, modulated tonal areas, distinguishing this piece among her late 19th-century output. Cassatt’s dedicated experimentation with color prints followed the influence of Japanese ukiyo-e masters, integrating their flattened perspectives and careful compositional framing into her intimate genre scenes.

Throughout her productive career, Cassatt focused almost exclusively on scenes of women and children, offering tender yet unsentimental portrayals of domestic life. The subject of this print, an individual child posed naturally and informally, reflects the artist’s commitment to capturing authentic, private moments free from narrative embellishment. Though she worked primarily in Paris, Cassatt remained a vital figure within the art history of the United States. This intimate print is highly characteristic of her mature style, which focused on strong compositional unity and the psychological presence of the sitter. This work, classified simply as a Print, demonstrates the height of Cassatt's ability to create complex layered effects using multiple copper plates. Because of the age of the work, prints of this kind are often studied and referenced as public domain resources, allowing for broad access to her graphic achievements. This exceptional example of Cassatt’s mature printmaking period is preserved in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.