Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926)
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair
1878
Oil on canvas, 89.5 x 129.8 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
A small brown dog and a pale-skinned little girl wearing a white dress sit in matching celestial-blue armchairs in this horizontal painting. To our right, the girl sits with her legs angled to our left. She slumps back with her legs spread, and her left elbow, on our right, is bent so that hand rests behind her head. Her other elbow is draped over the armrest. Her dark brown hair appears to be pulled back, and tawny brown eyes under faint brows gaze down and to our left. She has a small nose set in a round face and a coral-pink mouth closed in a straight line. Her white dress has touches of gray, soft pink, and powder blue with a wide plaid sash around her waist. The pine-green, black, and sapphire-blue sash is accented with overlapping vertical and horizontal lines of burnt orange, light blue, and mustard yellow. Her socks match her sash and come up to mid-calf, over black shoes with silver buckles. The small dog has scruffy black fur and a russet-brown face. It lies curled in the chair opposite the girl, to our left, with its eyes closed and ears pricked up. The rounded backs of the upholstered chairs curve down to become the low arms. The vivid and light blue fabric of the chairs is scattered with loosely painted strokes of avocado and forest green, peach pink, cherry red, plum purple, and white. Beyond the chairs closest to us is another armchair and an armless loveseat, both covered with the same fabric. They sit at the back of the room, in a corner flooded with silvery light coming through four windows on the right side. The furniture is arranged on a peanut-brown floor. The artist signed in the lower left, “Mary Cassatt.”
Cassatt was known for her sensitive depictions of children. Rather than showing them as miniature adults, she painted them as individuals with moods and personalities. This relatable little girl was the daughter of friends of painter Edgar Degas. (Degas himself was a friend of Cassatt’s.)
Cassatt captures the girl in a moment of rest, sprawling across a chair. Is she tired from play? Has an adult told her to behave? Or is she bored? Whatever happened, her pouty expression and slouched body language suggest that she has her own opinions on the matter. (NGA)