Landscape and Legend

Mary Cassatt

The Letter

1890–91

Color aquatint and drypoint, 34.5 × 21.1 cm (plate). The Art Institute of Chicago

A woman seals a letter at her writing desk, her patterned dress pressed against patterned wallpaper.

• Printed by the artist with Leroy in an edition of 25.
• Domestic life, bound by social custom, was one of her main themes.
• Flat pattern and bright color squeeze the space, a lesson she took from Japanese woodblocks.

Image: Art Institute of Chicago open access · CC0