Girl In Large Hat 1908

Mary Cassatt made this painting of a girl in a large hat with pastels in the late 19th century. Look at the softness of the marks! You can almost feel the powdery quality of the pastel, like dust on your fingertips. I wonder what it was like for Cassatt, standing there, choosing each color, layering them so delicately. Those soft pinks in the face and dress, that straw yellow rimmed with a darker brown in the hat, these strokes capture the essence of light and shadow. There’s something so tender in the way she rendered the girl’s expression. Cassatt was part of the Impressionist movement, and you can see how she shared their interest in capturing fleeting moments and the effects of light. Yet, she brought her own sensibility, often focusing on women and children. Each artist’s mark is born of a thousand other marks, across the history of painting. We are all in conversation with each other, always. Isn’t that neat?