In the Opera Box (No. 3)

Born in Pittsburgh, Mary Cassatt moved to Paris to study art and became an integral part of the Impressionist circle. She was particularly close to Edgar Degas, who admired her work and introduced her to etching. He encouraged her to experiment with acquatint and soft-ground etching, which she used to great effect in this print to flatten and abstract the space of a theater balcony. Eschewing the landscapes typical of her colleagues and their Barbizon precursors, Cassatt trained her sight on the modern middle-class women who surrounded her and their occupations—child rearing and leisure activities, such as the theater—without sentiment or apology.