Gathering Fruit

In Mary Cassatt's print Gathering Fruit, a woman in a pale blue dress, standing on a ladder propped against a garden wall, leans down to give some fruit to a naked child securely held in the arms of another woman, whose face is blocked by the child's head. The delicate patterning of the women's dresses harmonizes with the decoratively arranged green foliage, which, in turn, contrasts with the walls' layered masonry. At right, a doorway offers a view along a garden path leading to a sundial. In this example of the eleventh and final state of the print, the relatively strong, rich color and vibrant patterns take precedence over the economical etched lines that define the forms.

Gathering Fruit is based on Cassatt's allegorical painting of an orchard scene entitled Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge, which formed the central panel of her now-unlocated monumental mural Modern Woman at the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Developed through eleven states, this print was shown in Cassatt's first retrospective exhibition, which took place in 1893 at Galerie Durand Ruel in Paris. It is one of many innovative color prints Cassatt produced in the 1890s, considered the most productive period of her career.

Mary Cassatt: Pastels and Color Prints, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 24–April 30, 1978, no. 47. [exh. cat.]

The Art of Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), American Federation of the Arts, New York, New York (organizer). Venues: Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, June 11–July 7, 1981; Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, Nara, Japan, July 18–August 23, 1981. [exh. cat.]

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, 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.

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]

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, graveur impressionniste (Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Printmaker), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 3, 2005. [exh. cat.]Terra Collection-in-Residence, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 29, 2022–December 31, 2026.

   

Mary Cassatt: Pastels and Color Prints. (exh. cat., National Collection of Fine Arts). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978. Ill. no. 47, p. 39 (black & white).

Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. The Graphic Work of Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979. No. 157, pp. 65–66; ill. p. 151 (color).

Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: Graphic Art. (exh. cat., Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. Ill. no. 41 (color impression from The Library of Congress).

The Art of Mary Cassatt. (exh. cat., The American Federation of the Arts). Nihon: Shinbunsha, 1981. Ill. p. 77, no. 58 (color), p. 113 (black & white).

Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Mary Cassatt. New York: Abrams in association with National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1987. Text pp. 84, 86, 88, 91; ill. no. 78, p. 89 (color impression, Collection Mrs. Adelyn D. Breeskin, Washington, D.C.).

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. 15, pp. 157–63.

Regard sur cinq années d'expositions (Five years of Exhibitions at a Glance). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Ill. p. 108 (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. 69, pp. 292, 324 (impression from the National Gallery of Art, entitled The Kitchen Garden).

Mancoff, Debra N. Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives. London, England: Frances Lincoln, 1998. Ill. p. 57 (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. Ill. pp. 100–101.

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. 75 (color).