Artwork
Afternoon Tea Party
Afternoon Tea Party is an ink print by the Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1890, *Afternoon Tea Party* is a color print by Mary Cassatt that combines drypoint, soft‑ground etching, aquatint and selective gold metallic paint on laid paper. The composition depicts two women seated at a modest table, engaged in a tea ritual, surrounded by simple furnishings and a window opening onto a plant‑filled view.
Subject & Meaning
The work captures a quiet moment of domestic leisure, emphasizing the social rituals of women in the late nineteenth‑century bourgeois sphere. One figure, clad in a dark coat and blue hat, holds a cup, while the other, in a light dress, gazes pensively aside, suggesting a subtle narrative of companionship and contemplation within everyday life.
Technique & Style
Cassatt employs a layered printmaking process: drypoint provides fine, expressive lines; soft‑ground etching renders softer textures; aquatint creates tonal washes; and touches of gold paint highlight the tablecloth and other accents. The interplay of dark contour lines with muted color fields produces a nuanced sense of depth and atmosphere, characteristic of her experimental approach to print media.
History & Provenance
An American expatriate working in France, Cassatt was closely linked to the Impressionist circle, maintaining a professional relationship with Edgar Degas. *Afternoon Tea Party* reflects her sustained interest in portraying women’s private spheres during the 1880s‑90s, a period when she increasingly turned to printmaking to explore intimate subjects.
Context
The print aligns with Cassatt’s broader oeuvre that foregrounds maternal and social interactions, echoing the Impressionist preoccupation with modern life. By choosing a domestic tea setting, she situates the scene within the contemporary rituals of middle‑class femininity, offering a quiet counterpoint to the more public subjects favored by many of her peers.
Artist & collection
Artist
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker.
