Young Woman in a Black and Green Bonnet, Looking Down (c.1890)

Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926)

Young Woman in a Black and Green Bonnet, Looking Down
c.1890
Pastel, 65 x 52 cm
Princeton University Art MuseumPrinceton

One of America’s leading expatriate artists, Mary Cassatt settled in Paris in 1874, where she was greatly influenced by the pastels of her friend and mentor Edgar Degas. She fully exploited the medium’s painterly and spontaneous qualities as exemplified by this image of a fashionably dressed woman caught in a moment of repose or reverie. Cassatt‘s bold strokes on the bonnet and colorful upholstery enliven these inanimate surfaces and offset the higher degree of finish on the woman’s face. Her concealed eyes convey a sense of psychological privacy. (PUAM)