Is Mary Cassatt Public Domain? Paintings, Prints, and Image Files

The useful answer is yes for the established Mary Cassatt paintings and prints and the 12 institutional files documented here—but not automatically for every newly surfaced work, later impression, restoration, or online image. Cassatt died in 1926. Her underlying works are public domain in the European Union, United Kingdom, and Türkiye, and the named set has publication and collection histories supporting the same practical result in the United States.

The U.S. answer needs unusual care because “old” and “published” are not synonyms. A painting may have been displayed without being legally published. A private drawing may have remained unpublished for decades. Under the transition rule in 17 U.S.C. §303, a work first published between 1978 and the end of 2002 after remaining unpublished at the start of 1978 can retain protection through 2047.

This guide therefore makes four linked decisions:

1. Is the underlying Cassatt work outside copyright in the market being checked?
2. What evidence establishes its publication or unpublished-work chronology in the United States?
3. Which painting, print state, impression, collaborator, and physical accession are being described?
4. Is the exact digital file affirmatively covered by an institutional Open Access statement?

The answer is a research summary, not legal advice. It covers the named territories and files rather than claiming universal freedom.

The short answer is yes for the named set

The 12 works below come from the Art Institute of Chicago and National Gallery of Art. Six AIC files carry the CC0 Public Domain Designation; six NGA object pages say their media is free and in the public domain. Every local derivative was made from the exact institutional endpoint recorded in the rights ledger.

The set deliberately spans paintings and prints: The Child’s Bath, On a Balcony, After the Bullfight, The Boating Party, and Little Girl in a Blue Armchair sit beside colour aquatints, drypoints, and an opera-box impression. That range matters because a canvas and an editioned print do not generate the same provenance questions.

The conclusion does not automatically include:

• a work merely attributed to Cassatt without institutional support;
• a private drawing whose U.S. publication chronology is unknown;
• a later impression whose state, printer, paper, or publisher has changed;
• an infrared image, X-radiograph, conservation composite, or creatively restored scan;
• a book plate, exhibition installation photograph, commercial download, or retailer mock-up;
• a work by Edgar Degas that depicts Cassatt rather than a work authored by her.

Artist identity, work identity, object identity, and file identity are separate fields.

Life plus 70 markets are clear

The EU term directive, UK government guidance, and Article 27 of Türkiye’s Law No. 5846 each use an ordinary life-plus-70 framework for artistic works. Cassatt’s death in 1926 places her established sole-authored works beyond those economic-rights terms.

Market checked	Rule relevant here	Result for Cassatt’s established works
European Union	author’s life plus 70 years	public domain
United Kingdom	70 years after the creator’s death	public domain
Türkiye	life plus 70 years for economic rights	public domain

That statement is narrower than “anything connected to Mary Cassatt is free.” A joint work can follow the last surviving author. A later restoration, translation, layout, or photograph can add new authorship. Attribution, integrity interests, trademarks, privacy in modern photographs, and provider terms may also be governed differently.

The safest publication language names Cassatt’s established works and then identifies the object and file actually used.

The US answer has a 2047 exception

Copyright Office Circular 15A organises older U.S. terms by publication date. In 2026, a work published before 1 January 1931 is beyond the maximum 95-year publication term. The prints in this guide were produced in editions, while the named paintings have museum histories documenting early exhibitions, sales, reproductions, or collection circulation.

That evidence supports this selected set. It does not create a shortcut from “painted before 1931” to “published before 1931.” Copyright Office guidance for visual artists explains that distribution can publish a work while public display alone does not.

Section 303 creates the fail-closed fork for works created before 1978 that were still unpublished on 1 January 1978:

• if a work by an author who died before 1933 remained unpublished through 2002, the minimum term ended and it entered the public domain on 1 January 2003;
• if that formerly unpublished work was first published by 31 December 2002, the statute can extend protection through 31 December 2047;
• if the author’s death or joint authorship is uncertain, the life-based calculation must be checked again.

Therefore a newly found Cassatt sketch is not cleared merely by her 1926 death. Ask whether it was published before 1978, remained unpublished through 2002, or first appeared during the 1978–2002 window. If the chronology cannot be established, do not publish a categorical U.S. answer.

Paintings and prints create different records

A painting is a singular physical object, although it can have studies, variants, copies, restorations, and many reproductions. A print is designed for multiplication. Plates can be reworked, impressions can belong to different states, printers can vary ink and pressure, and paper can carry different watermarks, trimming, or condition.

For a painting, record:

• title, date, attribution, medium, accession, and holding institution;
• provenance and early publication or reproduction evidence relevant to U.S. law;
• conservation changes and the exact photographed state;
• the provider’s file statement and every local transformation.

For a print, add:

• technique, plate or matrix, state, edition, printer, publisher, ink, and support;
• whether the file depicts the recto, verso, or a particular proof;
• whether the sheet is an artist’s lifetime impression or a later printing.

Woman Bathing and The Letter belong to Cassatt’s celebrated 1890–91 colour-print project. The AIC records identify them as colour aquatint and drypoint and credit printing with Leroy. Another impression can preserve the same composition while differing materially in colour, wiping, registration, paper, margin, and condition.

Is The Child’s Bath public domain?

Yes—the 1893 Mary Cassatt painting is public domain in the EU, UK, Türkiye, and United States under the analysis and institutional history used here. Reuse the documented AIC object and file rather than an arbitrary copy.

This guide’s feature is Art Institute of Chicago 1910.2. The object page identifies Cassatt, title, date, oil-on-canvas medium, accession, and a CC0 Public Domain Designation. The AIC Open Access policy permits commercial and non-commercial reuse of files carrying that label.

The exact 3000-pixel IIIF source measured 1977 by 3000 pixels. The local master was resized to 1600 pixels wide, converted to WebP, and not cropped. Its checksum is locked in the Journal delivery record, so replacing it with another colour balance, crop, or photograph makes validation fail.

That specificity matters. A textbook reproduction may include its page, typography, colour profile, and publisher rights. A museum-store product photograph includes new lighting and styling. A conservation image may reveal a different layer of the painting through a separately produced capture. The old painting does not automatically clear those files.

Printers, collaborators, and attribution still matter

Primary artist naming can hide production history. The AIC credits Cassatt’s colour prints as printed with Leroy. That credit should not disappear just because both the composition and selected museum file are reusable. If a collaborator’s contribution is independently creative, the collaborator’s term and the joint-work rules need review.

The NGA’s record for Little Girl in a Blue Armchair adds a different complication: Cassatt wrote that Edgar Degas helped with the work, and the Gallery says he probably worked on the corner of the room. Degas died in 1917 and Cassatt in 1926, so either life-plus-70 calculation is exhausted in the checked markets. The evidence still belongs in the attribution record.

Conversely, Degas’s images of Cassatt at the Louvre are works by Degas in which Cassatt is the sitter. They should not be presented as Cassatt-authored works. Search results and product titles often place the sitter’s famous name beside the maker’s, which is useful for discovery but dangerous as a rights shortcut.

When attribution changes, reopen the term analysis. A newly proposed co-author or a modern restorer can change more than the caption.

Digital files and restorations need their own clearance

The U.S. Copyright Office says a purely faithful photographic copy lacks new registrable authorship, while sufficiently creative restoration or alteration can be protectable. Other jurisdictions and provider contracts can differ. A public-domain painting is therefore not permission to take the easiest image found online.

Keep the following layers distinct:

1. Underlying work. Cassatt’s painting or print design.
2. Physical object or impression. The accession actually photographed or scanned.
3. Institutional file. The exact AIC or NGA endpoint and its current Open Access statement.
4. Technical or restored image. Infrared, X-radiography, stitched macro photography, reconstructed colour, or damage repair.
5. Local derivative. Resize, crop, colour adjustment, generative edit, typography, or compositing used in production.

The AIC and NGA files selected here are affirmative, object-level Open Access choices. That is stronger evidence than a search-engine thumbnail or a copy detached from its source. If a provider changes the file or its status, the ledger should be reviewed before the next production use.

Twelve open files form the published set

The registry is both an editorial source map and a production boundary. It holds six AIC and six NGA candidates, each with title, date, accession, object page, exact source URL, provider label, local dimensions, alt text, and no-crop transformation.

The set covers Cassatt’s changing practice without reducing it to maternity imagery: a Spanish subject from 1873, balcony and theatre scenes, domestic reading and tea, ambitious colour prints, beach and boating compositions, and closely observed relationships between women and children.

The feature additionally has a locked SHA-256 checksum and deterministic responsive renditions. Automated tests verify that all 12 local files exist, are WebP, match the recorded dimensions, use distinct accessions and source endpoints, and come from the expected institutional programmes.

This does not imply that GeMarkt sells a Cassatt product. It proves that the published guide rests on processed, rights-checked files rather than a list of hoped-for illustrations.

A commercial reuse checklist

Before a Cassatt image enters a product, publication, campaign, or downloadable file, verify:

1. Attribution. The institution identifies Cassatt as artist and records collaborators or printers.
2. U.S. chronology. Publication evidence is real; creation or display alone is not treated as publication.
3. Section 303. A formerly unpublished work was not first published in the 1978–2002 window without a 2047 review.
4. Object or impression. The accession, state, side, medium, and date match the image shown.
5. Source file. The production master came from the exact institutional endpoint.
6. Provider status. The object page still carries the Public Domain or CC0 label relied on here.
7. New authorship. Restoration, technical imaging, photography, translation, typography, and layout are cleared where required.
8. Territory and presentation. Distribution matches the checked markets, and museum names or logos do not imply endorsement.

If provenance cannot be recovered, source the file again. Public domain is not a free-for-all explains the wider attribution, privacy, trademark, and platform boundaries.

Where Mary Cassatt fits inside GeMarkt

The Journal’s Impressionism chapter places Cassatt within changing exhibition networks and the politics of modern life. This rights guide has a different task: it follows term, publication, object, impression, collaborator, and file evidence to a usable production decision.

There is no Mary Cassatt collection or dedicated wallpaper room on GeMarkt at publication time. The wallpaper library and shop should not imply otherwise. Future routes are reserved as /collections/mary-cassatt/ and /free/wallpapers/mary-cassatt/; they must remain inactive until product-specific file, restoration, quality, territory, and attribution checks pass.

The guide can publish now because its research, exact-file ledger, processed 12-image set, responsive delivery, and fail-closed tests exist. Inventory may follow later without turning a rights answer into a premature sales claim.