Location📍 Art Institute of Chicago → Gallery 273

The Child’s Bath

Mary Cassatt’s 'The Child’s Bath' is a tender portrayal of familial closeness, a subject she 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, Mary 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, which features a dramatically flattened picture plane, decorative patterning, and a bright palette.