In the Omnibus

Mary Cassatt's In the Omnibus brings the viewer into the interior of a bus crossing the Seine River in Paris, shown in the background, in which a woman travels in company with her child and nursemaid. Fashionably attired in a brown dress and hat and with a parasol in hand, the mother gazes aloofly into the distance as the nursemaid, clad in a pale rose dress, tends to the young child on her lap. The toddler, wearing voluminous white clothing and a frilly bonnet, seems as oblivious to the maid as does the mother., but the tilt of the caregiver's head indicates her close attention to her charge. The urban, public setting used in this print is unique in Cassatt's work, which typically shows the commonplace tasks of childcare taking place in domestic interiors or gardens. Public transportation as the setting for modern urban life was explored earlier, in Joseph H. Boston's From Shore to Shore (TF 1999.13).

In In the Omnibus, Cassatt grouped the figures asymmetrically against simplified, horizontal bands of muted colors, subtly modulated by aquatint tone. She outlined each figure in drypoint, using the technique's delicate line to articulate the faces and to indicate the stitching and folds on the women's bodices and necklines. At the center of the composition, the artist left the white, uninked paper to suggest the rotund, cloud-like forms of the child's well-clothed body and head. Cassatt's aestheticizing treatment of a mundane urban journey transformed it into a visually appealing rhapsody of color.

In the Omnibus is one of the first of a group of ten color aquatint prints Cassatt made beginning in 1890 following her visit to a major Paris exhibition of the traditional Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut prints she had long admired. Cassatt printed her aquatints with the assistance of an otherwise unidentified Monsieur Leroy, a Paris-based professional printer, as indicated by her inscription on this impression. The innovative series, which also includes The Bath (TF 1994.4), The Lamp (TF 1999.29), Woman Bathing (TF 1996.87), Maternal Caress (TF 1994.5), and Afternoon Tea Party (TF 1994.13), is regarded as a milestone in the history of aquatint printmaking.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Americans at Home and Abroad, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 6–29, 1987.

An American Revelation: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 28–October 1, 1988.

American Painters in France, 1830–1930, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 14–September 3, 1989. [exh. cat.]

Face, Figure and Form: Art and the Human Condition, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art Museum, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (organizer). Venue: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art Museum, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 19–March 4, 1990.

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1–October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

Regard sur Mary Cassatt (Mary Cassatt at a Glance), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 2–October 31, 1996.

Domestic Bliss: Family Life in America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–June 22, 1997.

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form). [exh. cat.]

The Decorative Form: The Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts and the Asian Influence in American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 16–December 5, 1999.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 2001.

Le Japonisme en Amérique: oeuvres sur papier, 1880–1930 (Japonisme in America: Works on Paper, 1880–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002.

Mary Cassatt: Friends and Family, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont (organizer). Venues: Shelburne Museum, June 21–October 26, 2008; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, November 21, 2008–January 25, 2009. [exh. cat.]Terra Collection-in-Residence, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 29, 2022–December 31, 2026.

   

Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. The Graphic Work of Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979. No. 145, p. 63; ill. p. 142 (color).

Getlin, Frank. Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints. New York: Abbeville Press, 1980. Text p. 80; ill. p. 81 (color impression from The National Gallery of Art).

Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: Graphic Art. (exh. cat., Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. Ill. no. 32 (color impression from the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute).

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-58, p. 167 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Mathews, Nancy Mowll and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. (exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts). Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts, 1989. No. 7, pp. 115–20 (no. 7, p. 119–seventh state).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 251; pl. 74, p. 253 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 251; pl. 74, p. 253 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Regard sur cinq années d'expositions (Five years of Exhibitions at a Glance). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Ill. p. 110 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Barter, Judith A. Mary Cassatt, Modern Woman. (exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago). Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998. No. 58; ill. p. 280 (impression in The Art Institute of Chicago, acc. no. 1932.1289).

Mancoff, Debra N. Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives. New York: Stewart Tabori, 1998. Text p. 73; ill. p. 72 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 23 (checklist); ill. p. 28 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 23 (checklist); ill. p. 28 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Adelson, Warren et al. Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Artist's Studio. (exh. cat., Adelson Galleries, Inc.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000. Text p. 82; ill. p. 83 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick. "The City and Country: American Perspectives 1870–1920." American Art Review 7:1 (January-February 2000): 100-11. Ill. p. 106 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Mancoff, Debra. In the Omnibus, Mary Cassatt. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 2001. Ill. (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Mary Cassatt: Impressions. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2005; Paris: Le Passage Paris–New York Éditions, 2005. Text p. 57 (checklist); ill. p. 68 (color).