-As an impressionist painter, Mary Cassatt believed in the individual's right to choose subject matter and manner of expression.
-Cassatt's imagery is unique within the context of impressionism: she does not conform to the standard male depictions of women.
-Her art is gender centered in that she portrayed women almost exclusively and in that the women portrayed challenged conventions and stereotypes.
-The women and children she depicts are active, powerful, and complete within themselves.
-This unique approach to her subjects is clearly seen in paintings like Woman in Black at the Opera (1880) and The Boating Party (1893-4).
-Concerning the formal aspects of her work, Cassatt favored flatness. She also favored patterns, textures, and colors that move the viewer's eyes from left to right rather than into the painting.
-Compared to her American contemporary Thomas Eakins, it is clear that for Cassatt women were the "modern heroes" of her time and not the "modern male professional" often depicted by Eakins.
-The feminist group GUERRILLA GIRLS brings to the forefront the fact that women artists are still the minority gender group to show their works in museums but that nudes of women as of 2012 account for 74% of total nudes.This is of contemporary relevance to the discussion of Cassatt's oeuvre since Cassatt, as a woman artist, sought to give the public true representations of women done by a woman that challenged gender stereotypes.
| Mary Cassat. Woman in Black at the Opera (1880). |
Works Cited
Eisenman, Stephen M. Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. 4th ed. New York, NY: Thames &Hudson, 2011.
Yeh, Susan F. Mary Cassatt's Images of Women. Art Journal, Vol. 35, No.4 (Summer,1976). 359-363.
No comments:
Post a Comment