The Child's Caress

Painted in 1890 and now in the Honolulu Museum of Art, this canvas shows a child caressing — perhaps kissing or nuzzling — a parent or caregiver, the title describing the direction of affection from child to adult rather than the more typical adult-to-child direction. This reversal gives the work particular tenderness, the child's spontaneous demonstration of love captured in a moment of genuine physical intimacy. The Honolulu museum's holding reflects the Pacific collections' broad engagement with Western art history.

The physical closeness of the two figures — child pressing toward adult — is carefully observed and rendered, the composition built around the tender connection between the two faces. Cassatt uses warm, gentle tones and her characteristic sensitive brushwork to convey the softness and spontaneity of the affectionate gesture.