| For the collector who cannot spend a small fortune on a first edition Mary Cassatt, this presents an affordable alternative.
From a set of ten color prints inspired by the 1890 Paris exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints. Published by the Bibliothèque Nationale, France and printed by Claude Tchou & Sons in 1991, to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Cassatt's one-woman exhibition at the Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris. The current rigorously replicated edition is comprised of the ten dry points, etchings and aquatints of Mary Cassatt, kept in the Bibliothèque National and printed at Claude Tchou & Sons on the presses of the atelier Rigal à Fontenay-aux-Roses. The printing was completed January 15, 1991. The tirage of the French edition was limited to 250. Fifty are printed on Japon paper, numbered I through L, and 200 on Arches, numbered A1 through A200. There are printed 550 other examples reserved for the English, German, Italian, and Japanese editions. These are numbered B1 through B550. All these editions are marked with the stamp of the Bibliothèque National - Claude Tchou & Sons. There are also printed other editions marked H.C., reserved for the editors and their collaborators. Annotated in pencil lower right, "H.C." - reserved for Claude Tchou & Sons. Bresskin 151.
The theme of mothers and children pervades much of Mary Cassatt's work. Although she herself never married, she often spent time with friends and family members and their children and represented them in drawings, prints, and paintings.
Mother's Kiss depicts a moment of tenderness between a mother and her baby. Children move quickly and Cassatt developed the ability to capture a pose rapidly, rendering her figures with only a few expressive strokes. Here, Cassatt faithfully delineates the baby's rounded belly and chubby legs in simple, graceful outlines. At any moment, it seems, the child will squirm from his mother's tenuous embrace and the pose will be lost. This slight awkwardness between the two figures denies the sentimentality present in so many works of art that deal with themes of motherhood. Because the figures are not smiling and perfectly posed, they seem more true to our everyday experience. |
