The Bath

The Bath by Mary Cassatt, created between 1890 and 1891, is a pivotal example of late 19th-century American printmaking and a crowning achievement of the artist's engagement with color graphic media. This delicate image was realized through a demanding process combining color drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint executed on laid paper. Cassatt employed this complex layering of intaglio techniques to achieve subtle, painterly gradations of tone and deep texture, fundamentally advancing the sophistication of color prints during the critical period spanning 1876 to 1900.

Cassatt, heavily influenced by her exposure to Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints in Paris, adopted stylistic devices such as the elevated perspective, the flattening of spatial depth, and the bold, decorative patterning of fabric and wallpaper visible in this composition. The subject matter—the intimate ritual of a mother bathing her child—is characteristic of Cassatt’s deep commitment to depicting the private, everyday domestic lives of women. The work avoids sentimentality, instead focusing on the focused attention and physical bond between the figures, giving profound weight to the routine activities that defined female experience.

As one of the preeminent American artists working within the Impressionist circle, Cassatt’s commitment to translating the spontaneity of painting into the reproducible medium of prints revolutionized the field. She worked closely with printers to achieve complex color registration, ensuring that the effects resembled those of pastels or watercolors. This essential piece of American graphic art is now housed within the extensive collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Due to its cultural significance and the artist's stature, fine prints of this composition are highly valued and often available through public domain collections for scholarly study and public appreciation.