Artwork
The Coiffure
The Coiffure 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, *The Coiffure* is a color print that combines drypoint, soft‑ground etching and aquatint on laid paper. The image captures a solitary woman seated before a mirror, her back turned to the viewer while she arranges her hair. A warm, subdued illumination suffuses the interior, lending the scene a quiet, private atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The composition focuses on a domestic ritual: a woman, wrapped in a white sheet, attends to her hair in front of a reflective surface. By showing both the figure and her mirrored image, the work emphasizes themes of self‑presentation and the intimate, everyday moments that defined women’s private lives in the late nineteenth century.
Technique & Style
Drypoint supplied fine, velvety lines; soft‑ground etching allowed for textured, brush‑stroke‑like marks; and aquatint provided broad tonal washes of color.
Cassatt employed a multi‑process printmaking method. Drypoint supplied fine, velvety lines; soft‑ground etching allowed for textured, brush‑stroke‑like marks; and aquatint provided broad tonal washes of color. The laid paper’s faint ribbing contributes to the overall softness, while the muted palette and loose handling of form align the piece with Impressionist concerns for atmosphere over detail.
History & Provenance
An American expatriate working in Paris, Cassatt produced the print during her most active period with the Impressionists. Though she never exhibited the work as a painting, it appeared in several of her print portfolios and was later acquired by a European museum collection in the mid‑twentieth century, where it remains on view.
Context
*The Coiffure* reflects Cassatt’s ongoing interest in portraying women’s everyday activities, a subject she explored repeatedly in both painting and print. The piece also illustrates her collaborative relationship with contemporaries such as Edgar Degas, whose own prints and studies of similar domestic scenes informed her approach to line and light.
Artist & collection
Artist
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker.
