Mary CassattAmerican, 1844–1926The Coiffure
May one see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “The Coiffure” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
The theme of a woman at her toilette was a common one for male artists of the 19th century for whom it presented the opportunity to depict the female nude—historically considered an essential aspect of artistic practice. For a woman artist to address the subject transgressed social norms of the period. Women were not permitted to attend the illustrious École des Beaux-Arts until 1897, and even at the Académie Julian, which opened to women in 1868, they were not permitted to draw from nude models. Cassatt's answer to the rules of decorum was to suggest the setting of a bourgeois house, rather than the settings her male contemporaries preferred—such as the Turkish bath or the brothel. In her description of the female body, Cassatt relied upon the stylized elegance of her Japanese prototypes, thereby abstracting the nudity of her model.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1941.79
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: Wikimedia Commons — CC0
Meanwhile, in the life of Mary Cassatt
The whole life1890s
Mentor to young Americans
The 1890s are the busiest and most creative period of Mary’s life: young American artists seek her advice and support, and she introduces Lucy A. Bacon to Camille Pissarro.
1891
Colour prints inspired by Japanese woodcuts
Mary exhibits a series of highly original colour drypoints and aquatints, among them “Woman Bathing” and “The Coiffure”, inspired by the Japanese masters shown in Paris the year before. She was drawn to the simplicity and clarity of Japanese design and its skilful use of blocks of colour.
1891
Bertha Palmer commissions a mural
Chicago socialite Bertha Palmer asks Mary to paint a 12 × 58 ft mural on “Modern Woman” for the Women’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Palmer thought Cassatt an American treasure and could think of no one better.
