The Banjo Lesson
ca. 1893
Mary Cassatt
Allegheny City, Pennsylvania 1844-1926 Menil-Theribus, Oise, France
Cassatt 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.
Drypoint and aquatint, with additions in monotype on pale, blue-green laid paper
Sheet: 15 7/8 x 10 1/4in. (40.4 x 26cm)
Plate: 11 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (29.8 x 23.5cm)
Frame: 23 x 19 in. (58.4 x 48.3 cm)
Gift from a private collection
2003.126
Provenance: The 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: Scott Leen
