The Maid Shopping

The Maid Shopping is a significant print created by the French Impressionist Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) in 1888. This piece exemplifies Pissarro’s commitment to exploring graphic media during a critical period of technical exploration in his career. Executed using the challenging combination of etching and drypoint, the work features a rich, subtle application of plate tone in black on cream laid paper, lending the final image a soft, velvety texture distinct from his oil paintings. This print classification highlights Pissarro’s dedication to producing high-quality graphic works that captured modern life.

The composition captures a quotidian scene of Parisian commerce: a lone woman, presumably a domestic worker, engaged in an errand. Pissarro utilized the precise lines afforded by the drypoint technique to document the working class and the intimate details of daily existence in late 19th-century France. Unlike some of his earlier, more atmospheric works, this piece displays the structured, formalized clarity that marked Pissarro's output during the period when he engaged with Neo-Impressionist theories, even when depicting traditional Impressionist subject matter.

Pissarro’s graphic efforts were crucial to documenting the changing social landscape of the Third Republic. The focus on genre scenes of labor and commerce aligns with the artist’s lifelong interest in democratizing art subject matter. Due to the historical and artistic importance of this piece, many of Pissarro’s prints have entered the public domain, making his unique vision accessible worldwide. This fine example of Pissarro’s late graphic work is proudly held within the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.