Thursday, 17 July 2014



Young Girl at a Window, Mary Cassatt c 1883-84 (Corcoran Gallery of Art)
 French mademoiselle, imprisoned on her balcony...


Sunlight,  Frank W Benson, 1909 (Indianapolis Museum of Art)

And Miss America some twenty years later.

From the American Impressionism exhibition in Edinburgh which I greatly enjoyed yesterday.
Wonderful opportunity to see some American artists who are less well-known over here.

Autumn, Mary Cassatt, 1880 (Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais)

Mary Cassatt also painted this portrait of her older sister Lydia who was already suffering from kidney disease and died in 1882 - although she looks so similar to the unnamed girl at a window (the puffiness of whose face could be a symptom?), that I wonder if they're the same person and it was finished after Lydia's death? In which case, of course, she's not a French mademoiselle and my caption, as well as my feminist art theories, are nonsense ...   but never mind, it's still a stunning exhibition!
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6 comments:

  1. Mac n' Janet17 July 2014 at 15:12

    I love Mary Cassatts paintings, I've painted a copy of one of hers--two little girls on the beach.

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  2. mary17 July 2014 at 15:16

    If it's the one from Washington - two plump little girls with a bucket and spade - that's also in the exhibition, Janet. Lovely to have so many American loans.

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  3. Lucille17 July 2014 at 16:20

    They do look very similar. Did you see the Mary Cassatt prints at the National Gallery in 2006?

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  4. mary17 July 2014 at 16:36

    I think I missed that one, Lucille.

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  5. kristina17 July 2014 at 16:40

    Despite growing up in Washington, I don't recognize the one from the Corcoran! Have just returned from the Degas/Cassatt exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington--really interesting exploration of their professional relationship. Now wishing I could make it up to Edinburgh too! x

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  6. mary17 July 2014 at 16:46

    I'd love to see that, Kristina - I love the little girl in the blue armchair. Don't think I'll make it to Washington but Edinburgh is do-able in a day (although I was whacked by the time I got home!) It's not a huge exhibition, though, if anyone's planning a special trip - four rooms of paintings.

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