Woman Bathing

Mary Cassatt began a series of color prints in 1890 that demonstrate her close study of Japanese color woodblock prints. In Woman Bathing, Cassatt combined an intimate scene from daily life with dynamic formal elements—color, composition, pattern, and shape—inspired by similar choices in work by Japanese printmakers such as Utagawa Hiroshige. Here a woman stands over a wash basin, while the mirror catches part of her reflection. The multiple patterns—the green and pink stripes in her gown, the yellow and brown leaf decorations on the blue carpet, and the similar leaves on the jug—plus the blue-green wall and the curve of the woman’s exposed back infuse this quiet setting with a slightly off-kilter perspective.