| 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 drypoints, 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.
In The Coiffure, Mary Cassatt depicts a young woman in a private moment, as she pins up her hair for the day. This print is part of a series of ten color prints that Cassatt exhibited at Durand Ruel's gallery in Paris in 1891. Earlier, Cassatt had seen an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and became entranced by their everyday themes and spare beauty.
The Coiffure is one of two nude studies in Cassatt's color series. Although she did not often represent the nude, Cassatt's simple handling of line and form confirms her skill in drawing the human figure. The straight lines of the mirror and wall and the chair's vertical stripes contrast with the graceful curves of the woman's body. The rose and peach color scheme enhances her sinuous beauty by highlighting her delicate skin tone. Cassatt also emphasizes the nape of the woman's neck, perhaps in reference to a traditional Japanese sign of beauty.
Cassatt used the theme of The Coiffure in a number of her other works, for example, her painting, Girl Arranging Her Hair, portrays a red-haired model who resembles this one in The Coiffure. |
