Pennsylvania native Mary Cassatt was exhibiting to great acclaim in the Paris Salons from 1868 to the mid-1870s when Edgar Degas tapped her to join the Impressionists. After painting alongside Monet, Renoir, and Morisot, she quickly adopted the impressionist technique of applying paint rapidly in a bright palette. Yet, her subject matter remained largely distant from the cafés and society life depicted by her contemporaries: It was at the 1881 Impressionist exhibition in Paris that Cassatt first displayed her signature works in the mother and child theme.

From a private French collection, this sensitive study of a child’s head will be included by the Cassatt Committee in the forthcoming revision of the Mary Cassatt catalogue raisonné.