Art in a mirror

This volume is a catalog published to accompany an exhibition of the works of American painter and printmaker Marry Cassatt (1844-1926). The exhibition showcased a previously unseen inventory of 48 counterproofs done by Cassatt around 1905-1915. Counterproofs are essentially monotypes, created by a damp sheet of paper laid over a chalk or pastel drawing and run through a press. Pigment lifts from the original, yielding a pale mirror image. Because so little pigment is transferred, individual hatchings pale into veils of melded color. There is a purity and economy to these images, testimony to what little means are needed to suggest weight and volume.