Young Girl at a Window

c. 1883-1884

Mary Cassatt

Painter, American, 1844 - 1926

Shown from the knees up, a young woman wearing a white gown and bonnet sits in front of a balcony railing on a sunny day, holding a small dog on her lap in this vertical portrait painting. The scene is painted with visible brushstrokes, which are especially broad in the background and clothing. The woman sits with her body angled to our left, and she looks down in that direction with blue eyes. She has a short, snub nose, rosy cheeks, and her full, pink lips are parted. The woman’s bonnet is tied under her chin with a pale yellow bow. Her dress has a tightly-fitting bodice, elbow-length sleeves, and a long skirt. The bonnet and dress are painted with strokes of faint sky blue, petal pink, lavender purple, and mint green, with cream-white highlights and some darker cobalt-blue and apricot-peach strokes for shading. The dog on her lap lies with its head to our left, lifted as it looks out onto the landscape. The tan glove the woman wears on the arm we can see reaches her elbow, and she rests that hand on the dog’s back. Her right arm, to our left, is hidden below the elbow by the dog. The animal has charcoal-gray fur along its back and tan fur on the legs and shaggy face. The woman sits in a wicker armchair with a crimson-red medallion next to her left shoulder, to our right. The black balcony railing spans the width of the painting at the level of her nose, and has vertical bars. In the landscape beyond, trees to the right are painted loosely with sage green and mustard yellow. Buildings in the distance fill the top quarter of the composition, and are loosely painted with strokes of slate and aquamarine blue. The sky above is streaked with pale blush pink and ice blue. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Mary Cassatt.”

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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

M. Berend, Paris, by 1886.[1] (Durand-Ruel, Paris), c. 1900; (Durand-Ruel, New York), by 1903; purchased 18 January 1909 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] Berend was the lender of the painting to the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition in 1886.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1886

  • 8me Exposition de Peinture [Eighth Impressionist Exhibition], 1 Rue Laffitte, Paris, 1886, no. 7.

1903

  • Seventy-Second Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, January-February 1903, no. 37, as Le Femme au chien.

  • Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, November 1903, no. 9, as La femme au chien.

1906

  • Paintings, Pastels and Etchings by Mary Cassatt, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1906, as La femme au chien.

1908

  • Twelfth Annual Exhibition at the Carnegie Institution, Pittsburgh, April-June 1908, no. 49, as Woman with Dog.

  • Second Exhibition: Oil Paintings by Contemporary American Artists, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washingon, December 1908-January 1909, no. 252, as La femme au chien.

1940

  • Survey of American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 201, as La femme au chien.

1941

  • Mary Cassatt: The Catalog of a Comprehensive Exhibition of Her Work, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1941-1942, no. 18, as Woman with a Dog.

1949

  • De Gustibus: An Exhibition of American Paintings Illustrating a Century of Taste and Criticism, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, January-February 1949, no. 29, as Woman with a Dog.

  • American Portraits, Watkins Gallery, American University, Washington, March-April 1949, unpublished checklist, as Woman with a Dog.

1953

  • Expatriates: Whistler, Cassatt, Sargent, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1953, no. 19, as Woman with a Dog.

1955

  • Centennial Exhibition: Pennsylvania Painters, Pennsylvania State University Museum, University Park, 1955, no. 37, as Woman with a Dog.

1959

  • Loan Exhibition. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art: A Benefit Exhibition in Honor of the Gallery's Centenary, Wildenstein, New York, January-March 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro., as Woman with a Dog.

  • The American Muse: Parallel Trends in Literature and Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, April-May 1959, no. 55, as Woman with a Dog.

1962

  • Paintings, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1962, no. 104, as Woman with Dog.

1966

  • Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, unpublished checklist, as Woman with a Dog.

1970

  • Mary Cassatt 1844-1926, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970, no. 29, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

1972

  • Faces from the World of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Wildenstein, New York, 1972, no. 29, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

1973

  • American Impressionist Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Cincinnati Art Museum, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1973-1974, no. 14, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

1976

  • Corcoran [The American Genius]. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976, unnumbered catalogue, as Susan on Balcony with a Dog.

1980

  • La Pintura de los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington [Painting in the United States from Public Collections in Washington], Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980-1981, no. 20, as Susana en un Balcón, Sosteniendo un Perro.

1986

  • The New Painting: Impressionism 1874 - 1886, National Gallery of Art, Washington; M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986, no.137.

1987

  • American Women Artists, 1830-1930, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; San Diego Museum of Art; Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, 1987-1988, no. 7, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

1990

  • American Impressionism, Thyssen Bornemisza Foundation, Castagnola-Lugano, 1990, no. 2, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

1993

  • The Century Club Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990, unpublished checklist, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

1998

  • Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, October 1998-May 1999, no. 45.

  • The Forty-Fifth Biennial: The Corcoran Collects, 1907-1998, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 17 July - 29 September 1998, unnumbered catalogue, as Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog.

2002

  • The Gilded Cage: Views of American Women, 1873-1921, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2002, unpublished checklist.

2003

  • The Impressionist Tradition in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003-2004, unpublished checklist.

2004

  • Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2004-2005, unpublished checklist.

2005

  • Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 52.

2008

  • The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpublished checklist.

2009

  • American Paintings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 6 June-18 October 2009, unpublished checklist.

2013

  • American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

2014

  • American Impressionism: A New Vision, Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two), Edinburgh; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2014-2015.

2021

  • Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France, Denver Art Museum, Denver; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 2021 - 2022, no. 16, repro.

Bibliography

1947

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Handbook of the American Paintings in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1947: 52, as Woman with a Dog.

1983

  • Brown, Milton. One Hundred Masterpieces of American Painting from Public Collections in Washington, D.C. Washington, 1983: 82.

1984

  • Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. New York, 1984: 38.

1986

  • Wilmerding, John, ed. In Honor of Paul Mellon, Collector and Benefactor. Washington, 1986: 44.

1987

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Mary Cassatt. New York, 1987: 57, 62.

1988

  • Pollock, Griselda. Vision and Difference: Feminity, feminism, and histories of art. London and New York, 1988: 56.

1990

  • Gerdts, William H. Masterworks of American Impressionism. New York, 1990: 26.

  • Wolff, Janet. Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women and Culture. Los Angeles, 1990: 59.

1993

  • Effeny, Alison. Cassatt. London, 199: 21-22.

1995

  • Costantino, Maria. Mary Cassatt. New York, 1995: 12.

  • Boone, M. Elizabeth. "Bullfights and Balconies: Flirtation and Majismo in Mary Cassatt's Spanish Paintings of 1872-1873." American Art(Spring 1995): 62, 65.

2011

  • Larkin, Susan G. "Mary Cassatt, Young Girl at a Window." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 34, 37, 164-165, 272, repro.

2014

  • "The Corcoran Gallery of Art - A New Beginning." American Art Review 26 (March-April 2014): 139.

Inscriptions

lower right: Mary Cassatt

Wikidata ID

Q20189677

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