Child with Red Hat 1908

Mary Cassatt made this evocative portrait with pastels, a medium beloved for its immediacy and vibrant color. Pastels are essentially pure pigment, ground and bound into sticks, placing them somewhere between drawing and painting. The powdery nature of the medium lends itself to a soft, almost dreamlike quality, perfectly suited to capturing the fleeting innocence of childhood. But the use of pastel also speaks to the social context of Cassatt’s work. In the late 19th century, pastel was embraced by women artists as a way into the art world. It was seen as a less ‘serious’ medium than oil paint, making it more accessible to women who were often excluded from formal artistic training. Cassatt masterfully wields pastel not as a second choice, but as a powerful tool, challenging the very idea of what constitutes ‘high art’ and proving that profound artistic expression can be found in the most unassuming of materials.