Portrait of a Young Woman in Green 1898

Editor: This is Mary Cassatt's "Portrait of a Young Woman in Green," created around 1898 using pastels. I find it compelling how the texture of the pastels adds such a tactile quality to the woman's clothing and hat. How do you approach looking at this piece? Curator: For me, this work begs questions about its materiality and its connection to the social status of women at the time. Cassatt’s use of pastel, considered a less formal medium than oil paint, highlights a negotiation of class and artistry. Pastel was linked to femininity, a quicker, 'lighter' art form appropriate for women. The visible marks, that intense, almost scribbled hatching, disrupts conventional standards of portraiture for elite women. Editor: So, by choosing pastel, Cassatt is not just making a stylistic choice, but also engaging in a kind of social commentary? Curator: Precisely! Consider where the pastels come from, how the pigment is mined, processed, sold. These were commodified materials and thus were enmeshed in capitalistic processes and systems of display and consumption. How does this 'sketchy' technique challenge what we expect from a portrait commissioned by a wealthy family, and what does the ‘green’ denote about taste or social trends? Editor: I hadn't considered the raw material aspect of pastel creation before, but now I wonder how it democratizes art-making compared to, say, oil paints requiring more training in handling toxic substances. It feels much more aligned with home crafting. Curator: Exactly! We have to keep the focus on process. We shouldn’t overlook the implications of materials, class, and the subtle ways an artist manipulates established expectations through materiality. Editor: I will definitely be more mindful about the material implications and how these are involved in communicating about culture. Thanks!