Coming across this print by Mary Cassatt in the January 1959 issue of the art journal L'Oeil, my first thought was to ask what bridge is that in the background. There are two possibilities, the pont de Bercy:
And the pont du Point du Jour, or pont d'Auteuil:
Cassatt's print is dated 1891, and the pont de Bercy didn't acquire its métro-bearing viaduct until 1909, so it must be the pont du Point du Jour, built 1865.
The other place to be identified is the viewpoint. Is Cassatt looking upstream towards Paris or downstream out of the city? The print's title is 'En Tramway', and seems to represent a view from a tram on a bridge. This 1904 map shows that there is no bridge downstream, so it has to be a bridge north of the pont du Point du Jour:
The other place to be identified is the viewpoint. Is Cassatt looking upstream towards Paris or downstream out of the city? The print's title is 'En Tramway', and seems to represent a view from a tram on a bridge. This 1904 map shows that there is no bridge downstream, so it has to be a bridge north of the pont du Point du Jour:
Baedeker's Handbook for Paris (1904)
In the accompanying essay Adelyn Breeskin tells us that Cassatt had called the print 'Dans le bateau mouche', and if the viewpoint is in fact from a boat on the river we could be looking in either direction, but Breeskin argues that the viewpoint is clearly from an elevated position, such as a bridge, rather than closer to river level. From the map above that bridge would appear to be the pont Mirabeau:
But the pont Mirabeau dates from 1893-96, so couldn't have supplied Cassatt with a viewpoint in 1891. She must be on the next bridge up, the pont de Grenelle, built 1874:
We can see from this postcard that the bridge was used by trams:
The viewpoint is not quite central - if it were the Statue of Liberty would be in frame. The scale model of Bertholdi's 'La Liberté éclarant le monde' was put in place in 1885.
We can suppose that the tram has just passed the statue, and speculate that the woman is gazing upon it:
We can suppose that the tram has just passed the statue, and speculate that the woman is gazing upon it:
Or she may be thinking of something else entirely.
Something that troubles my thoughts is the position of Bertholdi's statue in the two postcards above. The first is a view north to south and the second is south to north. In both the statue looks east, towards Paris. That is not the statue's current position:
Something that troubles my thoughts is the position of Bertholdi's statue in the two postcards above. The first is a view north to south and the second is south to north. In both the statue looks east, towards Paris. That is not the statue's current position:
Google Street View
Google Street View
Things have changed since Mary Cassatt's passengers crossed the pont de Grenelle in 1891. There aren't any trams; the bridge itself has been replaced with a new one (built 1968); there is no longer a view of the pont du Point du Jour - it was demolished in 1962; and the Statue of Liberty now faces west, turning her back on Paris:
Google Street View
She is looking towards the pont Mirabeau. Perhaps she is wondering where the pont du Point du Jour has gone.
Or she may be thinking of something else entirely.
Or she may be thinking of something else entirely.
The INHA site has two versions of Cassatt's image, titled 'Dans l'omnibus', an outline and a finished version less darkly coloured than the reproduction in L'Oeil:
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Source: Adelyn D. Breeskin, 'Mary Cassatt graveur', L'Oeil, 49 (January 1959), pp. 40-45, 70.
the pont du Point du Jour in Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)
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