Art in a Mirror: The Counterproofs of Mary Cassatt
Presented by Marc Rosen Fine Art Ltd.
November 1 – January 20, 2005
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Nude Dark-Eyed Little Girl with Mother in Patterned Wrapper, c. 1905-1915
Pastel counterproof on Japan paper
26 x 22 inches
ADELSON GALLERIES presents - ART IN A MIRROR: THE COUNTERPROOFS OF MARY CASSATT, AN EXHIBITION AND SALE
The first-ever show and sale of Cassatt counterproofs anywhere. An exciting discovery of a never-before-seen collection of works is made that will greatly expand knowledge of the artist's works on paper and her creative force.
While Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) is among America's best-loved artists, long known for her endearing maternal images and for her exploration of the "modern woman" theme in art, she remains under-recognized for her pioneering role among the Impressionist painters of the late nineteenth century and for her extensive experimentation in new artistic mediums. This will change when-for the first time-a previously unknown cache of 50 counterproofs is exhibited at Adelson Galleries from November 1, 2004 to January 20, 2005, presented by Marc Rosen Fine Art, Ltd. While the best gallery exhibitions of Cassatt's work often include loans of privately owned works, this show is unique because everything is for sale.
"Mary Cassatt experimented constantly in the graphic media, but until now we never understood the depth of her interest in counterproofs. We have known the handful of such works that are scattered in private and public collections, but this extraordinary body of work far exceeded our expectations. It will enable us to see this daring and original artist in a different light," said Warren Adelson, president of Adelson Galleries.
Mary Cassatt was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts beginning in 1860, she embarked for Europe in late 1865. She continued her studies in Parma, Rome, Seville, and Antwerp prior to settling in Paris in 1874. Her work was accepted at the prestigious Paris Salon for the first time in 1868, when she was 24, and her artistic energies were directed toward achieving recognition at this annual exhibition for nearly a decade. After growing dissatisfied with the conservative academic art world and becoming aware of an exciting and spontaneous new aesthetic fostered by the Impressionists, Cassatt joined this radical group that had rejected the Salon system. From her debut at their fourth independent exhibition in 1878, she was recognized as a leading talent of the group, which included her close friend Edgar Degas as well as Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot. Mary Cassatt continued to show with the Impressionists through their final exhibition in 1886. By then she had become increasingly involved in printmaking. In 1891, she finished her landmark "Set of Ten"-the series of color aquatints inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, which are considered to be among the greatest achievements of nineteenth-century graphic art. She continued to experiment in printmaking throughout the decade. After the turn of the century, Cassatt's critical audience and patronage base shifted increasingly to her native country. In 1915, she was instrumental in organizing a New York exhibition of her own works alongside those of Degas and various old masters to help fund the campaign to win the vote for women. Some of her last works were created for this show, but deteriorating eyesight soon brought an end to her active career. In 1926, she died at her château in Mesnil-Théribus, France.
Until now, little has been known about Cassatt's counterproofs. Indeed, the counterproof medium itself rarely has been studied. A counterproof is created when a damp sheet of paper is placed over a chalk or pastel drawing and pressure is applied, either by hand-rubbing or running the sheets through a printing press. This process creates a mirror image of the original work transferred onto the second sheet of paper. The counterproof medium, which had been employed by a number of late eighteenth-century French artists, was revived in the 1890s during a surge of interest in printmaking and a fascination with experimental mediums such as color lithography and monotype. The delicacy of the pastel surface and of the counterproof, the ethereal quality of the counterproof's resulting symbolic and abstracted imagery, resonated with Cassatt and her peers, who were exploring new avenues of Post-Impressionism by this time. Degas, Renoir, Paul Cézanne and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, for example, all made counterproofs at this moment in time, working in creative collaboration with the important art publisher and dealer, Ambroise Vollard, the first owner of the Cassatt counterproofs to be exhibited at Adelson Galleries.
Until this discovery, only 22 counterproofs of Cassatt's pastels were known to exist. This exhibition of 50 works from Vollard's collection will not only greatly expand the knowledge of her works on paper but also the range of her creative experimentation. Among this group are seven counterproofs that are now the only evidence of lost original pastel compositions. Many of these counterproof images also reveal the color palette of original pastels known only through black and white reproductions. Their subject matter includes the types of images for which the artist is best loved: women, mothers and children, and girls with pets. The prices will range from under $30,000 to over $300,000.
"This exhibition is like walking into Vollard's gallery 100 years ago and seeing current works of Mary Cassatt on view, but now is the first time they are actually for sale," Mr. Adelson said.
Adelson Galleries, renowned for its expertise in American art, has been supporting new research on Cassatt since 1997, when it became home to the Mary Cassatt Catalogue Raisonné Project (in addition to the John Singer Sargent Catalogue Raisonné Project). The catalogue committee is engaged in updating and expanding Adelyn Dohme Breeskin's seminal 1970 volume. Based on Breeskin's pioneering research and her archives, the updated effort will include new works that have come to light since the publication of the 1970 catalogue, reconsider the dating and sitter identification of known works, and address the complex issue of authenticity regarding previously attributed works. The project will produce a revised and expanded catalogue raisonné, including both the original essays and new scholarship.
In addition to contributions by Mr. Adelson and Marc Rosen (in collaboration with his partner, Susan Pinsky), the fully illustrated catalogue will feature scholarly essays by Jay Cantor, director of the Mary Cassatt Catalogue Raisonné Committee, and Pamela A. Ivinski, senior research associate of the Cassatt Committee and author of a recent dissertation on the artist's maternal imagery. Art in a Mirror: The Counterproofs of Mary Cassatt will explore this largely unknown aspect of Cassatt's oeuvre within the context of a fruitful period of experimentation in pastel and color printmaking at a moment when art was no longer expected to merely reflect the reality of modern life but also to evoke subtle states of emotion. The catalogue will be distributed by the Antique Collectors' Club in the fall.