VAM galleries including this work:
The Speed Art Museum | Art Through Time | VAM Home

This painting is a sketch for a commission Mary Cassatt won in 1905 to create a series of circular murals for the women’s lounge in the new Pennsylvania Statehouse in Harrisburg. The choice of images for the women’s lounge, which associated women primarily with childbearing and child rearing, reflects some of the cultural values of Cassatt’s historical period. It is ironic that the artist chosen for the commission was a woman who had opted to pursue a vocation in painting over raising a family.

About the Artist

In 1874, it appeared to the art world that a group of artists collectively known as the Impressionists had broken just about every rule that could be broken as far as painting was concerned. The Impressionists startled that world by turning their backs on the historical themes and nostalgic images that had been the dominant subjects of many artists in the first part of the 19th century. Instead, they looked to the life around them as the inspiration for their paintings of sunlit landscapes, middle-class people at leisure, and mothers with children.

The many inventions of the Industrial Revolution included portable oil paints and easels that allowed artists to break free of the studio and paint en plein air (out of doors) or from sketches done directly on the spot. Understandably, when working on site and racing to capture the scene before the shadows changed, the Impressionist artist had no time to blend his or her colors as smoothly as in the studio. This encouraged the use of spontaneous, unblended brushstrokes of vibrant color by these artists. Although we might see this technique today as lively and fresh, in the 1870s it was unheard of!

Mary Cassatt was the only American asked to exhibit with the Impressionists. Born to an affluent Pittsburgh family, Cassatt studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before traveling to Europe in 1865. She had her first painting accepted by the prestigious Paris Salon in 1868. Impressionist artist Edgar Degas asked her to exhibit with the group in 1877. Having been rejected by a number of significant juried exhibitions, Cassatt enthusiastically accepted Degas’ invitation. “At last, I could work with absolute independence without considering the opinion of a jury,” she later recalled. “I had already recognized who were my true masters. I admired Manet, Courbet, and Degas. I hated conventional art—I began to live.”

Unlike many of the Impressionists, whose works tended toward landscapes and street scenes, Cassatt is best known for her portraits of women in domestic settings. About one-third of her work depicts mothers with children. The influence of Impressionistic painting technique on Mary Cassatt is evidenced in this painting by prominent, vigorous brushstrokes and a light color scheme.

After her last exhibition with the Impressionists in 1886, Cassatt no longer identified her work with any particular movement or school, instead experimenting with a variety of techniques. By 1915, failing vision due to diabetes forced her to stop painting. She was almost totally blind for the final years of her life.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: What color scheme is used in L’Enfant? Does the painting appear to be planned or spontaneous? Why? Look at images of babies by earlier artists. How does Cassatt’s compare? Is there anything unusual about the baby’s pose? What sets it apart from early portrait paintings?

Activities: Think of an everyday activity you do (brushing your teeth, eating, reading, etc.). Are you posing for a picture or just going through the motions? Do a quick sketch of something you do every day in the Impressionist style using oil pastel or paint.

We all have at least one special woman in our lives whom we love—Grandma, Mom, a teacher, a relative, a friend. Choose a woman from your life and think of all that she does for you every day, then create a portrait of her in the Impressionist style.

Pick a subject (figure, landscape, or still life) and paint it in an Impressionist style. Go outside and capture a scene. How does working en plein air make you feel and work?

Links

Find out more about Mary Cassatt and the Impressionists at the A&E Biography web site for the program The Impressionists.
[www.biography.com/impressionists/]

Visit the Mary Cassatt online exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
[www.mfa.org/exhibitions/cassatt/]

For a list of links to other Mary Cassatt paintings, consult the Artcyclopedia.
[www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/cassatt_mary.html]