In the context of The Child's Bath, analyze the Mother-child relationship of the Subject matter.
Cassatt's interest in portraying the mother-child relationship first became clear when she started specializing in drypoints and pastels after 1887, and she intended to bring out the “psychological, sociological, and spiritual meaning” from everyday routines and subjects. Although Cassatt's reason for specializing in such a theme was never clearly explained by the artist herself, scholars have speculated that it was led by both “pragmatic and idealistic impulses”.
The mother-child relationship was a common theme among French artists in 1890 and popularized through several influential artists at the time. In addition, Cassatt's interest may be connected with the work of Correggio and other Italian and Spanish masters, especially their traditional portrayals of Madonna and Christ Child. As an Impressionist, she hoped to discover new techniques and approaches to the theme by bringing it into the contemporary context.Cassatt's depiction of mother and child relations in the 1890s revolutionized traditional religious subjects by casting them in a “secular and naturalistic” context. By doing so, she mediated the conflicts between tradition and novelty. Because her initial series of mothers and children resemble the clarity and simplicity of that in Renaissance art, she was called “la sainte famille modern” by her dealers such as Paul Durand-Ruel.In the depiction of mothers, Cassatt consciously avoided using the female nude, which she considered as an appeal to men's treatment of women as erotic objects. Rather, she wished to emphasize the “moral sensibility and totality” of women's lives and only to suggest their sexuality through maternal relationships. The act of touching between the mother and the child in her works serves to indicate emotional and physical gratification as well as a feeling of protection and intimacy. On the other hand, Cassatt limits herself to include the nude body of children, but such nudity carries no sexual implication; instead, it is “natural and sensual” and symbolizes “goodness, purity, and lack of artifice.” Combining the fully clothed mother with a partially dressed child, she rejected any sexual feelings; she moves the sensuality to a proper condition, the motherhood in which physical intimacy is allowed and appropriate.
Madonna and Christ Child drypoint Paul Durand-Ruel Impressionist Correggio pastel Renaissance art Durand-Ruel