Afternoon Tea Party
1890–91
Medium
Color aquatint and drypoint, with additions in brush and gold, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 34.8 × 27 cm (13 3/4 × 10 11/16 in.); Sheet: 43.2 × 30.1 cm (17 1/16 × 11 7/8 in.)
Classification
drypoint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
13520
Art Historical Context
Mary Cassatt's *Afternoon Tea Party* (1890–91) captures an intimate moment of bourgeois leisure, showcasing the artist's signature focus on women in everyday domestic scenes. As an American Impressionist living in Paris, Cassatt was a close associate of Edgar Degas and exhibited with the Impressionists. This print reflects her fascination with Japanese ukiyo-e woodblocks, which inspired her innovative color print series during this period—a bold departure from traditional European printmaking. Executed in color aquatint and drypoint on ivory laid paper, with delicate brush additions and touch...
About the Artist
Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American painter and printmaker who became the only American artist to exhibit with the French Impressionists. Born to a wealthy Pennsylvania family, she defied social conventions to pursue art professionally, settling permanently in Paris where Edgar Degas invited her to join the Impressionist group in 1877. Her paintings of mothers and children—rendered with Impre...