About this work

The Child’s Bath is a tender portrayal of familial closeness, a subject that Mary Cassatt explored throughout her career. The caregiver’s cheek brushing the child’s shoulder, her encircling embrace, and the child’s pudgy hand on her knee suggest an emotional bond between the two.

Captivated by a large exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris in 1890, Cassatt set out to produce a series of color prints influenced by Japanese aesthetics. She then continued her investigation across media, culminating in this bold composition, with its dramatically flattened picture plane, decorative patterning, and bright palette.

Description text © The Art Institute of Chicago, licensed CC BY 4.0.

Painting

The Child's Bath

Mary Cassatt

Date: 1893
Artist: Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926)
Place of origin: France
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 101.3 × 67.3 cm (39 15/16 × 26 1/2 in.)
Classification: painting
Style: Impressionism
Department: Arts of the Americas
Credit line: Robert A. Waller Fund
On view: Not on view
Rights: Public domain

Subjects

View on artic.edu

Provenance

The artist; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, November 24, 1893 [Paris 2015]; sold to Harris Whittemore, CT, January 17, 1894 [Paris 2015]; sold by him back to Durand-Ruel, New York, February 4, 1899 [Paris 2015]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1910.

Exhibition history

Paris, Galeries Durand–Ruel, Exposition de Tableaux, Pastels et Gravures de Mary Cassatt, Nov–Dec. 1893, cat. 1, as La Toilette de l’Enfant. New York City, Durand–Ruel Galleries, Exposition of Paintings, Pastels and Etchings by Miss Mary Cassatt, Apr. 16–30, 1895, cat. 21, as La Toilette. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Sixty–Seventh Annual Exhibition, Jan. 10–Feb. 22, 1898, cat. 62, as The Toilet, lent by Messrs. Durand–Ruel and Sons. Cincinnati Museum Association, Seventh Annual Exhibition of American Art in the Art Museum, May 19–July 9, 1900, cat. 13, as La Toilette, lent by M. Durand–Ruel, New York. New York City, Durand–Ruel Galleries, Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, Nov. 5–21, 1903, cat. 6, as La Toilette. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Inaugural Exhibition, Jan. 7–Feb. 7, 1915, cat. 151, as The Toilet. Art Institute of Chicago, Memorial Collection of the Works of Mary Cassatt, Dec. 21, 1926–Jan. 24, 1927, cat. 29, as The Toilet. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, A Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Mary Cassatt, Mar. 15–Apr. 15, 1928, cat. 38 or 39, as The Toilet. Art Institute of Chicago, A Survey of American Art, July 21–Oct. 9, 1932, as La Toilette. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, May 23–Oct. 31, 1933, cat. Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 until Today, June 23–Oct. 4, 1937, cat. 27, as The Toilet. Brooklyn Museum, Leaders of American Impressionism: Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, John H. Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, Oct. 1937, cat. 22, as La Toilette. New York City, Museum of Modern Art, Art in Our Time, May 1–Sept. 25, 1939, cat. 48, as The Toilet. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, Painting Today and Yesterday in the United States, June 5–Sept. 1, 1941, cat. 23, as La Toilette. Baltimore Museum of Art, Mary Cassatt, Nov. 28, 1941–Jan. 11, 1942, cat. 25, as The Toilet. New York City, Wildenstein Company, Oct. 29–Dec. 6, 1947, A Loan Exhibition of Mary Cassatt for the Benefit of the Goddard Neighborhood Center, cat. 25, p. 32, as The Toilet. Des Moines Art Center, Jun–Jul, 1948, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century European and American Art, cat. 16, as La Toilette. Springfield, Mass., Museum of Fine Arts, Fifteen Fine Paintings, Oct. 7–Nov. 7, 1948, no cat., as La Toilette. New York, Wildenstein and Company, Landmarks in American Art, 1670–1950, Feb. 26–Mar. 28, 1953, cat. 38, as La Toilette. Art Institute of Chicago, Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Jan. 14–Feb. 25, 1954, cat. 19, as The Bath. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, Apr. 22–May 3, 1956, cat. 119, as The Bath. Milwaukee, Brooks Memorial Union, Marquette University, Seventy–Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, Festival of the American Arts, Apr. 22–May 3, cat. 12, as The Bath. Detroit Institute of Arts, Painting in America, The Story of 450 Years, Apr. 23–June 9, 1957, cat. 122, as The Bath. Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available]. New York City, M. Knoedler and Company, The Paintings of Mary Cassatt, Feb. 1–26, 1966, cat. 21, as The Bath. New York City, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art of the United States: 1670–1966, Sept. 28–Nov. 27, 1966, cat. 39, as The Bath. Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum, Mary Cassatt Among the Impressionists, Apr. 10–June 1, 1978, cat. 4, as The Bath (La Toilette). New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nineteenth–Century America: Paintings and Sculpture, Apr. 16–Sept. 7, 1970, cat. 169, as La Toilette. Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Mary Cassatt, 1844–1926, Sept. 27–Nov. 8, 1970, cat. 49, as The Bath. Newport Beach, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Mary Cassatt 1844–1926, Dec. 12, 1973–Jan. 20, 1974, cat. 7, ill., as The Bath. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mary Cassatt at Home, Aug. 5–Sept. 24, 1978, cat. 19, as The Bath. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, A New World, Masterpieces of American Painting, 1790–1910, Sept. 7–Nov. 13, 1983, cat. 94; Washington, DC, Corcoran Art Gallery, Dec. 7, 1983–Feb. 12, 1984, Paris, Grand Palais, Mar. 16, 1984–June 11, 1984. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1885–1915, May 10–July 24, 1994, cat. 13, as The Bath; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, Aug. 21–Oct. 30, 1994; Denver Art Museum, Dec. 3, 1994–Feb. 5, 1995; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mar. 12–May 14, 1995 (New York only). Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum, On View to the World: Paintings at the Trans–Mississippi Exposition, May 30–Sept. 6, 1998. Art Institute of Chicago, Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, Oct. 13, 1998–Jan. 10, 1999, cat. 72; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Feb. 14–May 9, 1999, National Gallery, Washington DC, June 6–Sept. 6, 1999. Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915, Oct. 12, 2009–Jan. 24, 2010; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Feb. 28–May 23, 2010. Paris, Musee d'Orsay, Paul Durand–Ruel: Defender of the Impressionists, Oct. 15, 2014–Feb. 8, 2015; London, National Gallery, Mar. 4–May 31, 2015; Philadelphia Museum of Art, June 18–Sept. 13, 2015, cat. 4.