"Sara Smiling"

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1904)

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"Sara Smiling" 1904, drypoint on soft gray paper, 8 3/4" x 6", with full margins. Printed by Delatre in 1923. In very good condition with fine details printing [Breskin 195].

Mary Cassatt's "Portrait of Mme Carier" attracted the attention of Degas in 1874.  She exhibited with the Impressionists in 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1886, with Degas praising her drawing ability.  For both Degas and Cassatt, the traditional importance of line and drawing, as well as the impact of the Japanese print, remained undiminished despite their links to Impressionism and the etching revival's emphasis on sketchiness. Cassatt's favorite subject was mother and child with the Madonna tradition never far from Cassatt's conception. Her numerous explorations of this theme, tender yet never sentimental, reflect the values of that period.  A spontaneity and freshness of vision prevail in her drawings and prints demonstrating a personal mastery of linearism and perspective that owed much to Degas.

This Mary Cassatt drypoint is in a 22" x 19 1/8" satin gloss deep mahogany finish with two rows of silver beads bordering the high gloss inner panel frame. The beaded silver wood fillet echoes the frame.  The outer green brier silk and inner lichen green rag mats are acid and lignin free and protected with Acrylite-AR OP3 (UV) by CYRO ... $1900.00.