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!

6 comments:

Mac n' Janet said...

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

mary said...

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.

Lucille said...

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

mary said...

I think I missed that one, Lucille.

kristina said...

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

mary said...

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.