Guided tour · One artist · Paris · 1844–1926

Mary Cassatt

From Seville to Paris: a theatre box, a letter, an omnibus and a boat trip. Ten paintings, prints and a pastel, in the order she made them.

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Works

10

Time

about 15 min

Collections

6

About this tour

Mary Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania in 1844 and spent most of her working life in Paris. Here are ten of her paintings, prints and a pastel, from six museums, in the order she made them. At every work, look first, then discover.

We begin in 1873. Cassatt, a young American painter, has copied the old masters in Madrid and set up a studio in Seville.

The 10 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 10

   Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla

   Mary Cassatt · 1873 · Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

   Look closely at the lace over her head. How is it painted?

   Quick, thick strokes of white over the dark: just dabs of paint up close, lace from a step back.

   Shown at the Paris Salon of 1874, it is said to have made Degas exclaim: 'There is someone who feels as I do.'

2. 

   Work 2 of 10

   The Loge

   Mary Cassatt · about 1878–80 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   There is one spot of blood red in this painting. Where?

   A single red rose, among pale flowers and green leaves.

   Two young women in a box at the theatre: one hides behind her fan, the other sits up straight. People came to see, and to be seen.

3. 

   Work 3 of 10

   Automne, portrait de Lydia Cassatt

   Mary Cassatt · 1880 · Paris Musées, Paris

   The title, Automne, means autumn. Where can you see it?

   In the colours: her coat glows with rust and orange, like the autumn leaves around her.

   Lydia, her elder sister, lived with Mary in Paris and often posed for her. She died only two years later, in 1882.

4. 

   Work 4 of 10

   Children Playing on the Beach

   Mary Cassatt · 1884 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   The girl in front is completely absorbed. In what?

   Filling her pail. One hand grips the long wooden spade; the pail sits between her ankles.

   Cassatt shows children as they are: busy, unposed, not looking at us. Far out at sea, tiny boats sail by.

5. 

   Work 5 of 10

   Girl Arranging Her Hair

   Mary Cassatt · 1886 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   What is she doing with her hands?

   Putting up her hair: one hand holds her braid, the other reaches behind her head.

   Degas is said to have claimed that women had no style; this was her answer. He took it in exchange for one of his own works and kept it until his death.

6. 

   Work 6 of 10

   In the Omnibus

   Mary Cassatt · 1890–91 · Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

   Look out of the windows. What is going by?

   A river and an arched stone bridge: they are riding through Paris on an omnibus.

   The nanny watches the baby; the mother gazes outside. On the omnibus, men and women of different classes could mix.

7. 

   Work 7 of 10

   The Letter

   Mary Cassatt · 1890–91 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   What is she doing with the envelope?

   Sealing it: she presses the flap to her lips.

   The flat blue, the patterned wallpaper and the view from above show what she learned from Japanese prints.

8. 

   Work 8 of 10

   The Boating Party

   Mary Cassatt · 1893–94 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Where are the woman and the baby looking?

   Towards the man at the oars, or just past him: we barely see his face.

   Flat shapes, an unusual angle and a horizon pushed up to the top edge: the lessons of the Japanese prints, now in oil paint.

9. 

   Work 9 of 10

   Mother and Child

   Mary Cassatt · 1894 · Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

   Whose face can you see?

   Only the child's, peeking over her shoulder. The mother's face is turned away, pressed close.

   It looks effortless, but it took three copper plates, inked in colour and printed one after another, and touches of colour by hand.

10. 

    Work 10 of 10

    Boy with Golden Curls (Portrait of Harris Whittemore Jr.)

    Mary Cassatt · 1898 · Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

    This is pastel, not paint. Where can you see the strokes?

    In the slanting green lines on the chair and the golden lines of his hair: each one a stroke of coloured chalk.

    Cassatt drew him in 1898, on a visit to his family in Connecticut.

The end of the tour

Modern life, seen up close.

A theatre box, a letter, an omnibus ride, a boat trip: Cassatt pictured the everyday lives of women and children, from close by. Failing eyesight ended her work in her last years. She died in France in 1926.

Questions at the end

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• Smithsonian Institution
• National Gallery of Art
• Paris Musées
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Minneapolis Institute of Art
• Yale University Art Gallery

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