MARY CASSATT, ‘Mother’s Kiss’, 1890-1891. Drypoint and aquatint on laid paper.
Color print, 9×13.75 inches (with out frame).
Two figures, a mom and child, dominate the vertical area. A girl in a informal, homely costume with a white collar and cuffs, the gown embellished with straightforward flower motifs, is seated on what appears to be a superior-backed picket chair, painted also with flower motifs. She has her hair mounted up in a bun type. The little one is nude with a superior crop of hair. The girl cradles and embraces and leans down to kiss the baby. The supported youngster holds the collar of the mother’s gown, the other arm is unseen. The history is simple and devoid of any further more facts.
The image is linear in type, evocative of and highly influenced by Japanese prints with flat plains of colour and motifs. We see, frequently a absence of organic kind or shadows, normal of Japanese artwork. As we can see, the motifs do not comply with sort and are flat. The strongest color is from the deep environmentally friendly and pink of the chair with the colors being picked up by the darkish eco-friendly and purple flower motifs of the dress. The darkest colour is the black hair of mom and kid. These darkish colours contrast with the light pale inexperienced of the gown and the pale powdery blue of the history. A big component of the graphic is the basic light blue colour occupying the leading 3rd of the picture and down the correct-hand facet. This massive flat pale region tends to make the topic subject stand out and focuses the topic.
The intimacy, tenderness and shut bond of like between mom and child are relocating and heart-warming, a exclusive bond but it is not the otherworldliness of religious non secular devotion that we uncover in Renascence artwork but a beautiful domestic scene of actuality. The lines and flower motifs on the gown skip and dance give a lively dynamic to the picture which contrasts with the stillness of the intimate instant and flat background.
