Knitting in the Glow of a Lamp. Mme Cassatt Tricotant sous une Lampe. by Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926

Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926
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Knitting in the Glow of a Lamp. Mme Cassatt Tricotant sous une Lampe.

Original aquatint with etching in brown-black ink. C.1880. Unsigned as always. One of perhaps five proofs printed by Delatre in 1923, but not issued with the 1923 set. Only
very few 1880's impressions are known. Very rare in any form.
Ref: Breeskin - Mary Cassatt Graphic Work no 31 ii.

Strong impression with plate tone; some slight 'flattening' of the printing in the lower dark areas of the plate. On heavy laid hollande-type paper. Excellent original condition. Full margins. Sheet: 17 1/2 x 13 1/4ins. Plate: 11 5/8 x 8 7/8ins. (295x227mm).

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A very rare print from the earliest period of Mary Cassatt's graphic work when she was still using aquatint washes combined with etched line rather than the pure drypoint which she favoured in the late 1880's and in the 90's. This impression was almost certainly printed by Delātre in 1923, at the time that Cassatt had given her some of her plates to him to make up a set to be issued together. However this study of her mother knitting in the light of a lamp was not included in the issued set. Only a very few 1880 impressions are known, and as even the issued 1923 Delātre edition of the prints in the set was only nine impressions, it seems that this work (unissued at that time and not existing in later reprints) must have been pulled in not more than one or two proofs in 1923. This would make a total edition of probably less than 10 impressions at any date.

Mary Cassatt was, like Degas, essentially a realist; that is to say that she sought to capture the 'real' atmosphere of everyday life. Her association with the idea of 'sensation' propounded by the main Impressionists lay in her use of light and colour. In her work she felt that drawing was at the root of even painted composition. Like Degas she was attracted to the contrasts of black and white, of light and shadow, of line and texture, which etching allowed. She was an enthusiastic associate of Degas in his promotion of the scheme for an album of etchings under the title of 'Le Jour et la Nuit' in 1880.

Cassatt worked very hard at her art; she habitually painted in her studio all day. As a result many of her drawings and much of her etching, especially in the early 1880's was done in the evening. This is reflected in her choice of subjects, many, as here, being themes of lamplight. 'Knitting in the Glow of a Lamp' is a study of Cassatt's mother. In the broad line and in the massing of the figure, in the concentration on effects of light so that they overrule detailed shape and line, this plate shows the extent to which Cassatt wanted to emphasise realism, real atmosphere, over and above any idea of deliberately 'appealing' drawing. It was this strength, this forcefulness, which sets Cassatt's work apart from Impressionism and which was the reason that it did not at the time have the widespread public appeal of that of many of her Impressionist painter friends.