Mary Cassatt

Cassatt, Mary Stevenson

American, 1844 - 1926

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We look slightly down onto a woman dressed in golden yellows, sitting in a pale green chair, with a nude child sitting in her lap as they both gaze into a mirror in this vertical portrait painting. Both the people have pale, peachy skin. The chair is angled to our left so the woman’s knees and child cant down toward the lower left corner of the composition, and the woman leans onto the arm closer to us. The chair is painted mint green and the rose-pink upholstery is visible on the seat and a corner behind the woman’s shoulder. To our right, the woman’s vibrant, copper-colored hair is pulled loosely to the back of her head. She has a rounded nose, flushed cheeks, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her long dress has a low, U-shaped neckline. The fabric shimmers from pale, cucumber green to light sunshine yellow. The sleeves of the dress split over the shoulder and a second long, goldenrod-yellow sleeve falls from her elbow off the bottom edge of the canvas. An oversized sunflower, larger than the woman’s face, is affixed to her dress near her left shoulder, closer to us. She looks with dark eyes down toward the small, gold-rimmed mirror she holds in her right hand, farther from us. The child also holds the handle of the mirror with both hands, and in the reflection, the child looks back at us with dark eyes, a button nose, and pink lips. The child’s hair in the reflection is the same copper color as the woman’s, but the child on her lap has blond, shoulder-length hair. The woman rests one hand on the child’s left shoulder, closer to us. The child has a rounded belly and smooth, rosy limbs. The woman and child are reflected in a second mirror hanging on the wall alongside them, opposite us. Their reflections are very loosely painted. The wall behind the pair is sage green across the top and it shifts to fawn brown across the bottom. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the woman’s dress and hair, and are more blended in the bodies and faces. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, Woman with a Sunflower, c. 1905, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.98

Woman with a Sunflower

Mary Cassatt · c. 1905 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.98

We look slightly down into a lime-green and white rowboat carrying a woman holding a baby and a man in this nearly square painting. The man wears midnight-blue shoes, pants, jacket, and soft, floppy cap. He sits with his back to us, bending forward to row the boat, which is cropped by the bottom edge of the canvas. The left side of his ruddy face is visible over his left shoulder. The woman and baby both have pale skin. The woman and baby sit across from the man, facing us to our left in the bow. The woman’s long-sleeved, sky-blue dress is crosshatched with pink lines. The baby leans back in the woman’s arms, and wears a pink dress, blue socks, and brown shoes. The wide-brimmed hats on both the woman and baby are painted pale celery green. They gaze toward or just past the man. The corner of the boat’s sail, also painted pale green, is pulled taunt by the wind to our left. Azure-blue water surrounds the boat up to the high horizon line, which brushes the top edge of the painting. The shoreline in the distance is lined with trees and dotted with white houses with red roofs.
Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893/1894, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.94

The Boating Party

Mary Cassatt · 1893/1894 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.94

Shown from the knees up, a young woman with peachy skin and red hair sits facing us on a pine-green bench in this vertical painting. She sits with her body angled to our right, and her left elbow, on our right, hooks over the top slat of the bench. Her head tilts slightly to our right to rest on the curled fingers of that hand. In her other hand, she holds up a red flower on a short stem. Her hair is pulled up and back over a high forehead, and her cheeks are deeply flushed. Her pink lips are closed, and she looks down and to our left at the flower with gray eyes. She has an oval-shaped face and a hint of a double chin. Her white dress is painted with ice-blue shadows and folds. It has a deep V neck that reaches to an apron-like pinafore patterned with vertical bands of pale lilac that alternate with angled daubs of blue. Beyond her is a loosely painted landscape with grassy areas and clusters of tall trees painted in spring, emerald, and sea glass green. The edge of the grassy field nearly brushes the top edge of the canvas, and the trees are cropped by it. The artist signed the lower right, “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, Woman with a Red Zinnia (Revery), 1891-1892, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.99

Woman with a Red Zinnia (Revery)

Mary Cassatt · 1891-1892 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.99

Shown from the lap up, an older woman with pale, slightly sagging skin and frosty gray hair sits facing us in this loosely painted vertical portrait. Her body is angled very slightly to our right, and she rests one elbow across the back of the chair in which she sits. She has a round face with large, dark blue eyes, and she smiles. Her gray hair is pulled back under a black hat, which is topped with pale pink flowers. She wears a black coat over a high-necked, hunter-green garment and nickel-gray gloves. The chair is painted loosely with a red and green floral pattern against a white background, and the space behind the woman is parchment white.
Mary Cassatt, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1887, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.7

Portrait of a Lady

Mary Cassatt · c. 1887 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.7

Shown from the waist up, a young girl wearing a slate-gray dress and straw hat stands with her hands clasped in front of her in this vertical portrait painting. The girl has light, peachy skin, and her cheeks are lightly flushed. Her body faces us but she tips her head slightly to her right, our left, and looks off into the distance with dark brown eyes. Her faint eyebrows drawn together, and her cherry-red, full lips slightly turn down at the corners. She has a button nose and a rounded chin line. She has dark blond, straight, shoulder-length hair under a wide, flat-brimmed straw hat. The hat is wrapped around the crown with a checkered white and black bow. Her shoulders slope down as she holds one wrist with the other hand down in front of her. She wears a jumper over a shirt with short white sleeves. At first glance the jumper appears pale gray but closer inspection reveals strokes of pale lilac, ivory white, and cobalt blue. The girl’s features and clothing are painted with loose, visible brushstrokes, and the background behind her is painted with vertical strokes of tan blended with faint green. Short dabs of brighter gold and butter yellow give the impression of sunshine on the brim of the hat and in the girl’s hair. The artist signed the work with loose letters in the lower right corner, “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, Child in a Straw Hat, c. 1886, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.17

Child in a Straw Hat

Mary Cassatt · c. 1886 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.17

We look slightly down onto a round faced girl with flushed, pale skin sitting almost in profile on a ladderback chair, facing our right. Shown from the lap up, she almost takes up the height of this vertical painting. She wears a voluminous, ice-blue chemise with elbow-length sleeves and a round, sapphire-blue earring in the ear we can see. Her head is tilted slightly back as she reaches up with both hands. With her right hand, closer to us, she holds the end of a chestnut-brown braid hanging over that shoulder. Her other elbow points upward as she touches hair at the base of the neck. Her lips and face are deeply flushed in her otherwise pale face. Her mouth hangs slightly open, revealing white teeth as her half-closed violet-colored eyes gaze off to our right. She sits in the corner of a room with wallpaper decorated in a pattern of tree limbs and leaves in cranberry red and slate blue on a mauve-pink background. A peanut-brown dresser behind her is covered with a white cloth on which sit a white cup and glass pitcher with a tapered neck. A white porcelain ewer and washbasin, tinged with blue, are partially visible behind her bent left elbow. The lower corner of a mirror in a bamboo frame hangs from the upper right. A portion of a burgundy rug fills the lower left corner.
Mary Cassatt, Girl Arranging Her Hair, 1886, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.97

Girl Arranging Her Hair

Mary Cassatt · 1886 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.97

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned woman holds an open, gold-colored fan in her lap in this vertical, loosely painted portrait. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the clothing and background, so some details are indistinct. The woman’s body is angled slightly to our left, and she looks off in that direction with her chin pulled in. Her dark eyes seem unfocused under faint brows. She has an oval face with a straight, flaring nose, and her full, pale pink lips are closed. Her brown hair is pulled back, and she wears a white scarf tied under her chin. Her high-necked dress is painted with strokes and dabs of celery green and butter yellow and is shaded with mauve pink. The cuffs are scarlet red where they fold back over her forearms. The woman sits on an upholstered sofa with a rounded back, painted in similar shades of pale green and yellow with touches of red. The back of the sofa and the woman’s head are reflected in a framed mirror just behind the couch. The area in the top right corner of the composition is especially loosely painted but strokes in white, red, green, and blue. The artist signed the painting near the woman’s shoulder to our left: “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, Woman with a Fan, c. 1878/1879, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.95

Woman with a Fan

Mary Cassatt · c. 1878/1879 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.95

Shown from the knees up, two young women with pale, peachy skin wearing white gowns sit close together and almost fill this vertical painting. The women are angled to our left and look in that direction. The young woman on our right has a heart-shaped face, dark blond hair gathered at the back of her head, and light blue eyes. Her full, coral-pink lips are closed, the corners in greenish shadows. Her dress is off the shoulders, has a tightly fitted bodice, and the skirt pools around her lap. The fabric is painted in strokes of pale shell pink, faint blue, and light mint green but our eye reads it as a white dress. She wears a navy-blue ribbon as a choker and long, frosty-green gloves come nearly to her elbows. She holds a bouquet in her lap, made up of cream-white, butter-yellow, and pale pink flowers with grass-green leaves and one blood-red rose. Her companion sits just beyond her on our left and covers the lower part of her face with an open fan. The fan is painted in silvery white decorated with swipes of daffodil yellow, teal green, and coral red. She has violet-colored eyes, a short nose, and her dark blond hair is smoothed over the top of her head and pulled back. She also wears long gloves with her arms crossed on the lap of her ice-blue gown. Along the right edge of hte painting, a sliver of a form mirroring the torso, shoulder, and back of the head of the young woman to our right appears just beyond her shoulder, painted in tones of cool blues. Two curving bands in golden yellow and spring green swiped with darker shades of green and gold arc behind the girls and fill the background. The space between the curves is filled with strokes of plum purple, dark red, and pink. The artist signed the lower right, “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, The Loge, c. 1878-1880, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.96

The Loge

Mary Cassatt · c. 1878-1880 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.96

A young boy with pale skin, wearing a burgundy-red suit and floppy hat, stands facing and looking at us with a gray terrier dog at his side in this vertical portrait painting. The boy has large, slate-blue eyes, rounded smooth cheeks, a small nose, and his pink bow lips are closed. His thick blond hair falls in waves across his forehead and down to his shoulders. His body is angled slightly to our right and he holds a riding crop with both hands in front of his body. The sheen on his burgundy-red jacket, and knee-length pants suggests they are velvet. A wide, lace collar comes to points on his chest. Lace cuffs peek out at his wrists, and the lower hem of his pants, around his knees, is edged with wide lace. A broad, slightly brighter ruby-red sash wraps around his waist and hangs by his left hip, on our right. His calves are covered in stockings of the same brighter red. His black shoes seem to be tied with a ribbon, but this area is loosely painted. His right hand, to our left, might brush the head of the dog sitting next to the boy’s leg. The dog has shiny, charcoal-gray fur and a black nose, ears, and eyes. The dog sits angled and looking off to our right. They are on a brick-red carpet with dashes of black that suggest a pattern, and an olive-green drape hangs behind them. The portrait is loosely painted throughout, but the brushstrokes are especially visible in the rug, background, and dog. The painting is inscribed near the lower right corner: “Eddy from Aunt Mary.”
Mary Cassatt, Eddy Cassatt (Edward Buchanan Cassatt), 1875, oil on canvas, Gift from the Family of Col. Edward Buchanan Cassatt, 2015.41.1

Eddy Cassatt (Edward Buchanan Cassatt)

Mary Cassatt · 1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2015.41.1

The artwork shows the head and upper shoulders of a young girl in a three-quarter view. Her head is slightly turned to the right, revealing a smile. The girl has brown hair and is wearing a broad-brimmed hat with pastel strokes. She has a high-collared light-colored garment. The background is plain and neutral. There are no visible signs of jewelry or additional objects in the frame.
Mary Cassatt, Sara Wearing a Bonnet and Coat, c. 1904/1906, pastel over pastel counterproof on chine collé, Rosenwald Collection, 1980.45.9

Sara Wearing a Bonnet and Coat

Mary Cassatt · c. 1904/1906 · pastel over pastel counterproof on chine collé ·  Accession ID  1980.45.9

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