Cassatt and Friends

Though Mary Cassatt is best known for her paintings, she was also a printmaker, and SBMA is proud to have in the permanent collection a number of Cassatt’s printed works. Among these works is a unique type of print called a counterproof, produced by dampening a pastel drawing and pressing it on to another piece of paper, allowing the transfer of pigment to create a mirror image. The resulting print, Simone in a White Bonnet Seated with Clasped Hands (No.1), is the centerpiece of an exhibition that explores the intimate relationship between drawing and printmaking among Cassatt and her contemporaries. The techniques used in these artists’ works often hinge on the tactile; the evidence of the artist’s hand is undeniably present, a refreshing contrast to more polished mass-produced printed material of the same period.

This exhibition includes works by Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, and James McNeill Whistler.