On the Omnibus (The Tramway)
Artist/Culture
Mary Cassatt
(American, active in France, 1844–1926)
Date1891
Mediumdrypoint and aquatint on Arches cream laid paper
Dimensionsplate: 36.1 × 26.8 cm (14 3/16 × 10 9/16 in.)
sheet: 43.3 × 30.2 cm (17 1/16 × 11 7/8 in.)
sheet: 43.3 × 30.2 cm (17 1/16 × 11 7/8 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineMrs. Kingsmill Marrs Collection
Object number1926.204
Descriptionstate vii/viiLabel TextDespite her non-traditional lifestyle as unmarried and childless, Cassatt’s adult female subjects are typically presented as maternal caretakers. This print, however, presents a unique mother within her body of work. Not only is this an uncommon example of Cassatt representing motherhood outside a domestic setting, the fashionable, upper-class mother in this work is not a nurturer; instead, she is detached and reflective. The child faces away from her mother toward a figure presumed to be the nanny, indicated by her working class attire. A preparatory drawing for this work features a man in a top hat who was excised in the final print seen here.Provenance(Paul Durand-Ruel [1831-1922], Paris); (1891, Frederick Keppel & Co., New York, NY); November 30, 1891, purchased by Sylvester Koehler [1837-1900] on behalf of Laura Norcross, later Laura Norcross Marrs [1845-1926], Boston, MA; 1926, by bequest to the Worcester Art Museum.
On View
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