The Printmaking Techniques Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt American, 1844 - 1926 Sara Wearing Her Bonnet and Coat, c. 1904 Transfer lithograph on paper, 20" x 16 7/16" Gift in memory of Kathryn Booth Anderson '40

Mary Cassatt studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for 4 years and then left for Paris in 1874 where she spent the rest of her life. In 1877, one of her paintings was accepted into the Salon where she met Edgar Degas, and together with Camille Pisarro, they planned the publication of a journal containing original prints. This spurred on Cassatt's early printmaking experiments - an area in which she excelled for her generation.

Cassatt's subjects are mainly women, mother and daughter, in domestic and intimate situations. She has produced color prints, color woodblocks, pastels, and paintings, though her lithography work is rare.

Mary Cassatt was also an important influence on American institutions and collectors by encouraging them to bring more European art, especially French Impressionism, into the USA. She was successful on several occasions as she was driven by the remembrance of the severe lack of European art in Pennsylvania.

Sara Wearing Her Bonnet and Coat is one of Cassatt's rare lithographic works. A transfer lithograph involves drawing the picture on paper first, then transferring it by pressure to the printing plate which is then inked, pressed, and printed back onto paper.

The subject, Sara of Mesnil-Theribus (a village outside of Paris), is one of two other girls which Cassatt used in a series of works. Cassatt worked with the same model several times; this technique was an influence of Degas. Sara's relaxed, natural pose is typical of Cassatt's style.