The Barefooted Child

Well known for oils and pastels, Mary Cassatt had a brief but fruitful acquaintance with aquatint in the 1890s. Originally she took up the medium to see if she could approximate the feel of Japanese woodblock prints she had seen exhibited in Paris. The MIA's impression of The Barefooted Child, depicting a game of patty-cake, is the only known example of the fourth state, in which Cassatt experimented with a gray and yellow color scheme. The final state ended up being more colorful.