Jules Standing by His Mother 1901

Mary Cassatt painted Jules Standing by His Mother with visible brushstrokes of browns, reds, and ochres. It’s not hyper-realistic, is it? The overall impression is built up, bit by bit, and through the making, Cassatt must have found something she wanted to hang on to, something that made her stop. I imagine her, squinting at the canvas, maybe turning her head, trying to figure out what was there, what was happening, and what she wanted to see. See that quick stroke of white that makes up the edge of the child's shoulder? I love how Cassatt uses these dashes of paint to construct form, but more than that, to capture light. She’s like a sculptor with colour, building form with light. Painters talk to each other across time, and Cassatt’s work is no exception. You can see the influence of artists like Manet and Degas in her compositions, but she brings something totally unique. She’s not just copying what she sees, but turning it into a way of feeling and seeing, all at once. And so painting opens up into that—that is the exchange, the conversation, the uncertainty, and the ambiguity.