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

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 an Elderly Lady, c. 1887, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.7

Portrait of an Elderly Lady

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

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 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 small brown dog and a pale-skinned little girl wearing a white dress sit in matching celestial-blue armchairs in this horizontal painting. To our right, the girl sits with her legs angled to our left. She slumps back with her legs spread, and her left elbow, on our right, is bent so that hand rests behind her head. Her other elbow is draped over the armrest. Her dark brown hair appears to be pulled back, and tawny brown eyes under faint brows gaze down and to our left. She has a small nose set in a round face and a coral-pink mouth closed in a straight line. Her white dress has touches of gray, soft pink, and powder blue with a wide plaid sash around her waist. The pine-green, black, and sapphire-blue sash is accented with overlapping vertical and horizontal lines of burnt orange, light blue, and mustard yellow. Her socks match her sash and come up to mid-calf, over black shoes with silver buckles. The small dog has scruffy black fur and a russet-brown face. It lies curled in the chair opposite the girl, to our left, with its eyes closed and ears pricked up. The rounded backs of the upholstered chairs curve down to become the low arms. The vivid and light blue fabric of the chairs is scattered with loosely painted strokes of avocado and forest green, peach pink, cherry red, plum purple, and white. Beyond the chairs closest to us is another armchair and an armless loveseat, both covered with the same fabric. They sit at the back of the room, in a corner flooded with silvery light coming through four windows on the right side. The furniture is arranged on a peanut-brown floor. The artist signed in the lower left, “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.18

Little Girl in a Blue Armchair

Mary Cassatt · 1878 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.18

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

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

Mary Cassatt, Kneeling in an Armchair, c. 1903, drypoint, Gift of Miss Elisabeth Achelis, 1942.6.30

Kneeling in an Armchair

Mary Cassatt · c. 1903 · drypoint ·  Accession ID  1942.6.30

Mary Cassatt, The Crocheting Lesson, c. 1902, drypoint, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.2767

The Crocheting Lesson

Mary Cassatt · c. 1902 · drypoint ·  Accession ID  1943.3.2767

Mary Cassatt, Reine and Margot Seated on a Sofa (No. 2), c. 1902, drypoint, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.2766

Reine and Margot Seated on a Sofa (No. 2)

Mary Cassatt · c. 1902 · drypoint ·  Accession ID  1943.3.2766