Describe the characteristics of the Comparison with Japanese woodcuts in this artwork's Influences.
Cassatt was struck by the Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut prints exhibited at the Beaux-Arts Academy in Paris in 1890, three years before painting The Child's Bath. Cassatt was drawn to the simplicity and clarity of the Japanese art, and the skillful use of blocks of color, such as the c.1801 print "Woman Washing a Baby in a Tub" or "Bathtime" (行水, Gyōzui) by Kitagawa Utamaro. Not only did Utamaro's techniques speak to Cassatt, his depiction of the mother and child relationship, conveying intimacy and sympathy, also inspired her. She worked on a series of prints inspired by the Japanese works in the next few years, with cropped subjects, a flattened perspective and decorative patterns. This 1893 painting can be viewed as a culmination of that work. Like her previous works, the composition of The Child’s Bath resembles the shape of Japanese prints by utilizing an “extended vertical format” along with the long straight limbs of the figures. Additionally, the seeing-from-above perspective which was used widely in Japanese art is also prominent in Cassatt's painting.
Kitagawa Utamaro Beaux-Arts Academy ukiyo-e Japan woodcut Japanese art Utamaro