The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 10, 2024

The Visitor (recto)

The Visitor (recto)

c. 1881
(American, 1844–1926)
America, 19th century
black and tan pencil
Sheet: 40 x 30.9 cm (15 3/4 x 12 3/16 in.)
Gift of Fifty Members of The Print Club of Cleveland on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary 1966.176.a
Catalogue raisonné: Lugt 657, in tan
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This drawing's first owner was the artist Edgar Degas, a friend of Cassatt's and a collaborator in her experiments with etching.

Description

Mary Cassatt produced this sheet as a working drawing for an etching of the same title. She framed the subject's slanted silhouette against the verticals and horizontals of the window, and featured a seated figure in profile in the lower left quadrant of the composition. The bold, dramatic contrasts of sunlight and shadow throughout the room contrast with the delicacy and sensitivity with which the visitor's face were drawn by Cassatt from direct observation.
  • Edgar Degas, Paris
    acquired from artist by Edgar Degas, Paris, c. 1880-1917; [his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15-16 November, 1918, no. 82]; René de Gas, Paris [all this according to Chicago et. al. 1998]
  • Dumas, Ann. The Private Collection of Edgar Degas. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. p. 240, fig. 319 library.metmuseum.org
    Cassatt, Mary, Judith Barter, and Erica E. Hirshler. Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman. Chicago: The Art Institut of Chicago, 1998. no. 43, p. 321, repr. p. 264
    Cassatt, Mary, Shalini Le Gall, Justin McCann, Justine de Young, and Daniel Harkett. Inside Out: The Prints of Mary Cassatt. 2021, 24. Mentioned and reproduced, p. 24, fig. 7
  • Degas/Cassatt. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (May 11-October 5, 2014).
    Mary Cassatt and the Feminine Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Paris. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 14, 2012-January 20, 2013).
    Mary Cassatt: A Modern Woman. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (October 10, 1998-January 10, 1999); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (February 6-May 19, 1999).
    The Private Collection of Edgar Degas . The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (September 22, 1997-January 11, 1998).
    Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 7, 1993-January 2, 1994).
    Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, June 18-August 27, 1989: Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints (also: Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, September 8-November 5, 1989; Williamstown MA, Williams College Museum of Art, November 25, 1989-January 21, 1990).
    Fraternite: Artistic Relations Between France and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 21-October 18, 1987).
    CMA, September 10-October 16, 1966: Golden Anniversary Acquisitions, Bulletin LIII (September 1966), p. 281, listed no. 80, repr. p. 238.
  • {{cite web|title=The Visitor (recto)|url=false|author=Mary Cassatt|year=c. 1881|access-date=10 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.176.a