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[This painting] is of Mary Cassatt's favorite subject: A mother holding a child. Dating from about 1900, it has the sketchy "unfinished" look of many of her pastels, with only the heads and central portions of the figures fully modeled in glowing flesh tones.

Source: DM Register, Thurs., Nov. 10, 1966, p.12


Exhibition History"Commitment, Community and Controversy: The Des Moines Art Center Collections," Des Moines Art Center, Jan. 24, 1998 - May 10, 1998

"From Body to Being: Reflections on the Human Image," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 1 - May 4, 1997

"Mary Cassatt Retrospective," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Dec. 10, 1992 - March 22, 1993, (circulated to: The Art Institute of Chicago, April - July, 1993)

"19th Century American Portraits from Iowa Collections," Des Moines Art Center, Sept. 14 - Oct. 17, 1976
Published ReferencesART QUARTERLY, vol.29, no.3, 1966, ill. p.312

DMAC Bulletin, Dec. 1966, cover ill.

DES MOINES REGISTER, Nov. 10, 1966, ill. p.12

EXTRAIT DE LA GAZETTE DES BEAUZ ARTS, Feb. 1967, ill. p.101

Adelyn Breeskin, MARY CASSATT: A CATALOGUE RAISONNE OF THE OILS, PASTELS, WATERCOLORS AND DRAWINGS, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970, no.326, p.141, ref. and ill. p.18

DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER, Dec. 12, 1971, ill. p.3E

THE IOWAN, Spring issue 1972, color ill., p.53

DMAC Appointment Calendar for 1972, color ill.

"19th Century American Portraits from Iowa Collections," Des Moines Art Center, 1976, cat. no.3

Lu Bro, DRAWING, A STUDIO GUIDE, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., N.Y., 1978, fig. no.18.7, ill. p.181

THE NATHAN EMORY COFFIN COLLECTION, a portfolio of fifty selections from the collection, published in 1981 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nathan Emory Coffin, b/w ill.

Lu Bro, WIE LERNE ICH ZEICHNEN, DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne, 1983, ill. p.203, fig.18.7

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.48, b/w ill. pl.28, p.48

AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.75, color ill. p.74
DimensionsFrame: 34 × 30 × 2 1/2 in. (86.4 × 76.2 × 6.4 cm)
Image: 24 3/4 × 20 1/2 in. (62.9 × 52.1 cm)
Sheet: 25 7/8 × 21 7/16 in. (65.7 × 54.5 cm)
Accession Number 1966.21
Classificationswork on paper
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedMary Cassatt (l,r graphite)
Catalogue raisonnéBreeskin, 326
ProvenanceArtist, Paris. Ambroise Vollard, Paris [acquired by 1922, probably from the previous by 1913]. Sidney Levyne (1903-1976), Baltimore, MD. Mrs. Dunbar Bostwick (Electra Webb (1910-1982)), Shelburne, VT. (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from previous, 1966]
Nicolle and Her Mother
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines