1885 (ca.), Mary Cassatt, Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the Artist's Mother -- de Young Museum (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
In 1866, the painter Mary Cassatt traveled to Paris, where she eventually settled, and became the only American to exhibit with the French Impressionists. Using the loose, fluid brushwork of Impressionism, she depicted scenes that typically featured women in social or domestic settings, often capturing tender maternal moments.
In her many and varied portraits of her mother, née Katherine Kelso Johnston, Cassatt honored the dignity of a woman who profoundly influenced and supported her throughout her artistic career. Recalling the composition of James McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Portrait of the Artist's Mother), this painting depicts Mrs. Cassatt in three-quarter profile, cradling her face in one hand as she gazes ahead. Her solidly rendered black dress contrasts with the sketchy, multihued brushstrokes animating the surrounding space. The austerity of her garments may reflect that she is in mourning for her husband, who died in 1891.
1885 (ca.), Mary Cassatt, Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the Artist's Mother -- de Young Museum (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
In 1866, the painter Mary Cassatt traveled to Paris, where she eventually settled, and became the only American to exhibit with the French Impressionists. Using the loose, fluid brushwork of Impressionism, she depicted scenes that typically featured women in social or domestic settings, often capturing tender maternal moments.
In her many and varied portraits of her mother, née Katherine Kelso Johnston, Cassatt honored the dignity of a woman who profoundly influenced and supported her throughout her artistic career. Recalling the composition of James McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Portrait of the Artist's Mother), this painting depicts Mrs. Cassatt in three-quarter profile, cradling her face in one hand as she gazes ahead. Her solidly rendered black dress contrasts with the sketchy, multihued brushstrokes animating the surrounding space. The austerity of her garments may reflect that she is in mourning for her husband, who died in 1891.