The Caress
1902
One of the great Impressionists, Cassatt was known for depicting children, often in relation to their parents. Two criticisms of Cassatt are that her art was often very sentimental and that, in her later life, she was too set against the newer forms of painting (i.e. Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, etc.). While I think taste in art is subjective and can't be faulted (or not easily so), I would say the criticism of sentimentality, when looking at her whole body of work, is unavoidably true. Still, she was able to create beautiful works in her own style, whose most sentimental pieces are astoundingly well done.
The Letter
c. 1891
Child Drinking Milk
c. 1868
Girl Arranging Her Hair
1886
Autumn
1880
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair
1878
Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla
1873
Posts
I think she had a talent for painting the tones of people's faces.
ReplyDeleteMontejo, you're certainly right. But I would take that statement one step further, and say, "She had a talent of exaggerating tones in faces"-–though perhaps you wouldn't agree with that assessment.
ReplyDeleteQue de tendresse dans sa peinture , que d'amour , c'est infiniment beau
ReplyDeleteEB
EEH, yeah that may be true. It seems the subject in Girl Arranging Her Hair either has a rash on her face or the tones are exaggerated.
ReplyDeleteVraiment, elle est magnifique cette peinture.
ReplyDeleteJames, I agree. Overall, she seems to play with tones, though I should probably adjust my last statement to include simplifying--if you look to Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, you can see her reducing the number of tones in the face of the little girl.
ReplyDelete