098

  • Au Louvre, la peinture, Mary Cassatt (Mary Cassatt at the Louvre)

  • ca. 1879-80
  • Edgar Degas (French 1834-1917), published by Vollard, Paris
  • Etching and aquatint, 21st state after cancellation
  • 30.1 x 12.5 cm., 11-7/8 x 5" image
  • Lent Courtesy of Private Collection through Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts

Essay by Megan Crandall, Class of 2005 and Catherine Carter Goebel, Editor

Edgar Degas was one of the few French Impressionists who found it difficult to abandon old academic traditions. He embraced the quick snapshot moments of this group, but seemingly could not resist delving deeper into the personalities of people. Mary Cassatt at the Louvre was based on a series of sketches that Degas undertook between 1879-80, depicting his good friend and colleague, Mary Cassatt, with her sister, Lydia.

Cassatt stands poised and confident, leaning on her umbrella, as she gazes at the artwork in the Grand Galleries of the Louvre. Lydia sits behind her, presumably reading a guidebook. Cassatt was one of the few active women in the Impressionist movement. In this particular print, Degas shows Mary turned away from the viewer while Lydia, with head tilted downward, looks up at the art on display as if she has just consulted her booklet. Degas' innovative view of Cassatt from the back was encouraged by critic Edmond Duranty, who had described Impressionism as the new painting and encouraged artists to depict subjects from the back as well as various other angles. In this manner, he argued, they could subtly demonstrate their "age, temperament, and social position" (Pollock 23 and 119). Yet Cassatt seems oblivious to her observers. Although prominent and fashionable, she is primarily concerned here with studying the art of the past, an important source even for modernists. The artwork on the wall is unidentifiable and fades into contrasting shapes and shadows against an abstracted flat background. The scene is framed by the door jamb, and the floor dramatically angles upward, presenting a dramatic bird's-eye view. The chiaroscuro (contrast of light and shadow) is sensitively accomplished through the printing technique.

The tall, cropped composition of this print was no doubt influenced by the recent flood of Japanese artwork and prints into France (web gallery 97), due to the reopening of Japan to Europe. Degas had collected several Japanese woodblock prints and like many of his contemporaries, practiced Japonisme, adapting characteristics of Japanese style. He was probably the finest draftsman of his generation. His talent here is illustrated by his ability to capture figures so elegantly with merely a few lines and shapes. He also, however, accomplished much more in this image, by announcing the position of the new woman in modern art.