Mary Cassatt
Young Woman in Black
1878-1879
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Mary Cassatt
Young Woman in Black
1878-1879
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Unframed: 31 3/4 x 25 1/2 in. (80.6 x 64.8 cm)
Framed: 39 1/4 x 33 in. (99.7 x 83.8 cm)
Credit Line
The Peabody Art Collection. Courtesy of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property of the Maryland State Archives. MSA SC 4680-10-0010
Object Number
L.1964.18
Long known simply as Young Woman in Black, this painting was recently identified as the Portrait of Madame J. Mary Cassat sent it to the fifth Impressionist exhibition in April, 1880. At that time, she was absorbing the lessons of Japanese art, primarily through woodblock prints. So were her French contemporaries, including Edgar Degas, with whom she had a close professional relationship. Here, Cassatt deployed an asymmetrical composition made of flattened shapes and color planes edged by strong contours. Inspired by Japanese fans, Degas painted the framed fan (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art) that hangs above the sitter, who wears a fashionable hat, probably felt, with a turned-up brim, high crown, stuffed bird and black lace veil. Such commodities were illustrated in fashion magazines of the period.
Americans in Paris
Women and Impressionism
Extended Loans IN
Impressionism and the Art of the Past
America! Storie di pittura dal Nuovo Mondo
Cone Refresh
Degas/Cassatt (NGA)
AMW Reinstallation 2014
Degas/Cassatt
Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade
Adelyn Breeskin: Curating a Legacy
Cone Wing Rotations 2022
Cassatt - McNicoll
Mary Cassatt at Work
Cone Wing Rotations 2023
Impressionism and its overlooked women (working title)
Mary Cassatt - A Comprehensive Exhibition
Cone Wing Rotations 2024
Cone Wing Rotations 2025
Mary Cassatt: Being Independent (working title)
Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, "Mary Cassatt, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors and Drawings", Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970, ill. p. 76, no. 129
Reproduced in color in unbound catalogue for the Exhibition "Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926" at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1974
Jay Roudebush, "Mary Cassatt", New York: Crown, 1979
Barbara Novak, "American Impressionism", Portfolio, Magazine of the Fine Arts, April 1982. Vol. IV, No. 2, pp. 69-81
Monika Kopplin, "The Fan Leaf from Manet to Kokoschla", Stuttgart: Stuttgart Staatsgalerie, 1984, p. 18, ill. 13
Nancy Mowll Mathews, "Mary Cassatt", New York: Harry N, Abrams, Inc., 1987, p. 50
Michael Cain, "Mary Cassatt", New York - Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1988, ill. p. 75
Griselda Pollock, "Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity", Routledge Classics, 1988, p. 90
Maria Cistantino, "Mary Cassat", New York, Brompton Books/Barnes and Noble, 1995, ill. p. 41
Debra N. Mancoff, "Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives", London: Frances Lincoln LTD, 1998
Debra Mancoff, "Why Cassatt Matters", Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1998
Stephen May, "Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman", Antiques and The Arts Weekly, March 26, 1999
Professor Richard Brettell, "The Teaching Company Video Series: From Monet to Van Gogh: A History of Impressionism," Chantilly, 2003
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, "Cassatt- McNicoll". Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, 3 June 2023- 1 October 2023.
On View at the BMA
