The Banjo Lesson

Dateca. 1893

Maker Mary Cassatt Allegheny City, Pennsylvania 1844-1926 Menil-Theribus, Oise, France

Label TextCassatt became especially interested in printmaking under the spell of Japanese woodblock prints. In 1800, Parisians flocked to an exhibition of Japanese prints. Cassatt was terrifically excited by the show. She wrote to her friend, painter Berthe Morisot, "You couldn't dream of anything more beautiful. I dream of it and don't think of anything else but color on copper." Cassatt loved the ethereal quality of delicate dry point lines made directly into the copper plate and the atmospheric qualities of aquatint, a medium so called because it suggests the character of watercolor. This particular suite of prints is from a group that Cassatt kept for herself and then passed on to the famous Paris art dealer and print publisher Ambroise Vollard, who preserved them as Cassatt's studio collection.

Object number2003.125

ProvenanceThe artist to 1904-1906; sold to Ambroise Vollard (1868-1939), Paris, 1904-1906 to 1939; sold to unidentified collector, Paris, 1939-1980; descended in that owner's family, 1980-ca. 2000; sold to [Marc Rosen Fine Art, Ltd., New York], ca. 2000; sold through [Adelson Galleries, Inc., New York] to donor, 2000

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Adelson Galleries, Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Artist's Studio, Nov. 10-Dec. 29, 2000. Text by Marc Rosen and Susan Pinsky. No cat. no., pp 16, 22, 23 (n. 2), 98-99, reproduced p. 99. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle", May 5 Sept. 9, 2007.Published ReferencesBreeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979; cat. no. 156, pp. 65, 150. Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with Williams College Museum of Art, 1989; cat. no. 16, pp. 48-51, 164-167. cf. Kramer, Hilton. "Mary Cassatt Revealed as a Great Printmaker." New York Observer, December 4, 2000: pp. 1, 16. Junker, Patricia. "America in the Artful Age." A Community of Collectors, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2008; p. 186, reproduced fig. 155.

Credit LineGift from a private collection

DimensionsPlate: 11 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (29.8 x 23.5 cm) Sheet: 15 1/4 x 10 in. (38.7 x 25.4cm) Frame: 23 x 19 in. (58.4 x 48.3 cm)

MediumDrypoint and aquatint, with additions in monotype on laid paper