| Mary Cassatt’s paintings and graphics represented the world of nineteenth-century
women, mothers, and children. The Letter represents a mundane daily activity:
a young woman seated at a desk, having completed a letter, in the act of licking
an envelope. Cassatt enlivened her image with a Japanese-inspired composition
that is remarkable for its brilliant color and striking design. Though the
subject is common in the history of art, Cassatt elevated her depiction by
infusing it
with an introspective mood worthy of Vermeer. Her exploration of intimate domestic
life is informed by an unsurpassed ability to capture not only the natural,
sometimes awkward poses of her figures but their momentary psychological states
as well.
By refusing to prettify her subjects, she avoided appealing to sentimentality,
instead describing their emotional experience of quotidian and intimate moments. . . .
:: Eric Denker, Curator of Prints and Drawings
Corcoran Gallery of Art |
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
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:: The Curator's Journals Project
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