Women Bathing: Day
c. 1895
Medium
Lithograph in black on cream laid paper, laid down on off-white wove paper (chine collé)
Dimensions
Image: 13 × 20.2 cm (5 1/8 × 8 in.); Primary support: 13.5 × 20.3 cm (5 3/8 × 8 in.); Secondary support: 28.3 × 36.2 cm (11 3/16 × 14 5/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22777
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Camille Pissarro's *Women Bathing: Day* (c. 1895) captures a serene moment of everyday rural life, rendered in a delicate lithograph on cream laid paper using the chine collé technique—where a thin sheet is glued to a sturdier support for added stability and subtlety. This intimate print, measuring just over 5 by 8 inches, depicts women bathing in daylight, evoking the Impressionist fascination with natural light, fleeting moments, and unposed human activity. As a founding figure of Impressionism, Pissarro was renowned for his plein-air landscapes and scenes of peasant life, often painted en plein air in rural France. By the 1890s, he embraced printmaking, particularly lithography, to democratize his art and experiment with its fluid, painterly qualities. Unlike traditional etching, lithography allowed Pissarro to draw directly on the stone with greasy crayon, achieving soft tonal gradations that mimic the atmospheric effects of his oil paintings—influenced by contemporaries like Degas and influenced in turn by emerging Neo-Impressionism. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, this work highlights Pissarro's late-career versatility, bridging painting and print traditions. Its modest scale invites close contemplation, revealing the artist's masterful command of light and texture in monochrome. A gem for print enthusiasts!
About the Artist
Camille Pissarro · 1831–1903
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) stands as the patriarch of Impressionism, the only artist to exhibit in all eight Impressionist exhibitions and a mentor whose influence shaped the trajectory of modern art. Born Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas to a Jewish-Portuguese merchant family, he abandoned the family business to pursue painting, eventually settling in Paris i...