Mary Cassatt: Prints
The National Gallery, London
February 22 - May 7, 2006
This month, as a part of Americans in Paris 1860-1890 exhibit in London's Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery feature's a small exhibition of Mary Cassatt: Prints; the only American member of the Impressionist group of artists. The exhibit display's her exquisite skill in printmaking techniques, etching, drypoint and aquatint.
Influenced by Japanese prints and her Impressionist colleagues Caillebotte, Degas, and Renoir, Cassatt embraced the idea that the background of an image might be as significant as the foreground. She is known as the painter of mothers and children.
Cassatt was interested in avant-guarde printmaking and in 1890 saw an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints that deeply inspired her. Her suite of 10 delicately colored drypoints and aquatints represents a landmark in the history of printmaking. Loosely based on aspects of Japanese prints she had seen in Paris, the Suite is intented to reflect a woman's day.
The exhibit is absolutely beautiful - captivating use of color and form. Her interest in making color prints required 3 or 4 runs through the press with precise registration each time. Walking away from it, I am inspired by her use of color-the sublety of pastels.
Terms:
Aquatint: a printmaking technique related to etching in which the coper plate is coated with a porous resin, giving a granulated effect when bitten by the acid.
Peintres-Graveurs (painters-printmakers) Movement: In 1889 a group of painter-printmakers led by Felix Bracquemond, and including Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Auguste Rodin, and Odilon Redon, joined together with critic Philippe Burty and dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to promote printmaking as a fine art. They organized the Exposition des Peintres-Graveurs to advance printmaking as an extension of painting and to create an audience of print collectors. The exhibition signaled a revival of printmaking in the 1890s, one which promoted all printmaking media.
Japonism: is the influence of Japanese art on Western, primarily French, artists. The art that originated from this influence is called japonesque.
Ukiyo-e: Japanese for 'pictures of a floating world', a genre of print that draws its subject matter from everyday life.
February 22 - May 7, 2006
This month, as a part of Americans in Paris 1860-1890 exhibit in London's Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery feature's a small exhibition of Mary Cassatt: Prints; the only American member of the Impressionist group of artists. The exhibit display's her exquisite skill in printmaking techniques, etching, drypoint and aquatint.
Influenced by Japanese prints and her Impressionist colleagues Caillebotte, Degas, and Renoir, Cassatt embraced the idea that the background of an image might be as significant as the foreground. She is known as the painter of mothers and children.
Cassatt was interested in avant-guarde printmaking and in 1890 saw an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints that deeply inspired her. Her suite of 10 delicately colored drypoints and aquatints represents a landmark in the history of printmaking. Loosely based on aspects of Japanese prints she had seen in Paris, the Suite is intented to reflect a woman's day.
The exhibit is absolutely beautiful - captivating use of color and form. Her interest in making color prints required 3 or 4 runs through the press with precise registration each time. Walking away from it, I am inspired by her use of color-the sublety of pastels.
Terms:
Aquatint: a printmaking technique related to etching in which the coper plate is coated with a porous resin, giving a granulated effect when bitten by the acid.
Peintres-Graveurs (painters-printmakers) Movement: In 1889 a group of painter-printmakers led by Felix Bracquemond, and including Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Auguste Rodin, and Odilon Redon, joined together with critic Philippe Burty and dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to promote printmaking as a fine art. They organized the Exposition des Peintres-Graveurs to advance printmaking as an extension of painting and to create an audience of print collectors. The exhibition signaled a revival of printmaking in the 1890s, one which promoted all printmaking media.
Japonism: is the influence of Japanese art on Western, primarily French, artists. The art that originated from this influence is called japonesque.
Ukiyo-e: Japanese for 'pictures of a floating world', a genre of print that draws its subject matter from everyday life.
posted by D. Sedcole at 10:28 AM
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