Details

Object type

painting

Title

The Young Girls

Artist/Maker

Mary Cassatt

Culture/School

American

Date

circa 1885

Materials

oil on canvas

Dimensions

framed: 729 mm x 819 mm x 118 mm

Description

We don’t know the identity of these two little girls who huddle together so closely. Their endearingly individual expressions suggest that they were painted from real life. Cassatt didn’t have children of her own, but she painted the offspring of friends and family. Perhaps these girls are two such children.

The green background is unspecific - it could be an outside setting, but equally Cassatt could have painted these girls in her bright studio. The background and the girls’ clothing appear to have been hastily painted, and we can see lines on the clothing which suggest unresolved areas. Blank canvas can be seen towards the bottom of the canvas. Cassatt considered the painting to be finished, however: her prominent signature at the bottom right tells us so. The painting’s rapidly-painted appearance gives the impression of speed and movement, as if the artist was endeavouring to quickly capture the pose of these two little girls before they became too restless.

Cassatt was born in 1844 in Pennsylvania, USA. After studying in the Fine Arts Academy of her home town, in 1865 Cassatt moved to Paris. There, she studied the work of Old Master painters, and took private lessons from the academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. After some time travelling and working across Europe, as well as a short time back in the USA during the Franco-Prussian War, Cassatt settled in Paris in 1874. There, she was invited by the French artist Edgar Degas to exhibit with a group of painters known later as the Impressionists. Cassatt was the only American officially linked to the group, exhibiting in four of their eight exhibitions. She was one of four women artists associated with the Impressionists.

The Chair of the Hamilton Bequest, Andrew Primrose writes: 'My taste in art is simple – I need to like what I see – so from my very first involvement with the Bequest in the 1960s I have been charmed by Mary Cassatt`s 'The Young Girls', sometimes known as 'The Sisters'. The girls' expressions are so natural as, unsmiling, they watch or listen to the artist, their white dresses contrasting with the vivid green sweep of the background.'

Credit Line/Donor

Presented by the Trustees of the Hamilton Bequest, 1953

ID Number

2980

Location

Kelvingrove French Art Gallery