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Artist or Maker: Mary Cassatt (1845-1926)
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Provenance: Durand-Ruel, Paris, circa 1899.
Alfred Atmore Pope, Farmington, Connecticut.
Theodate Pope (Mrs. John) Riddle, daughter of the above, Farmington, Connecticut.
John Levy Galleries, New York.
M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1944.
Private collection, 1948.
By descent to the present owner.
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Exhibited: Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, on extended loan, before 1946.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Person Hall Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, American Painting, 1946, no. 21.
New York, Wildenstein & Co., A Loan Exhibition of Mary Cassatt, 1947, no. 44.
New York, The Knoedler Galleries, The Paintings of Mary Cassatt, February 1-26, 1966, no. 35.
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Literature: Good Housekeeping Magazine, February 1910, vol. 50, p. 143, illustrated.
E. Valerio, Mary Cassatt, Paris, 1930, pl. 11, illustrated.
The Knoedler Galleries, The Paintings of Mary Cassatt, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1966, no. 35, illustrated.
A.D. Breeskin, Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors and Drawings, Washington, D.C., 1970, p. 145, no. 339, illustrated.
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Notes: PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
While Mary Cassatt's work by the 1870s had reflected her interest in the experience of modern women in Parisian society, by the 1880s her emphasis began to shift from the public to the private domains of women's lives, and thus to the quiet, intimate moments spent within the domestic realm. Depictions of motherhood, largely comprised of simple, daily interactions between mothers and their children, were a natural outcome of Cassatt's movement into the private sphere, as these shared moments played a significant role in women's experience of modern life.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Cassatt was known principally for her paintings of mothers with children. Antoinette Holding Her Child by Both Hands is a superb example of the confident yet sensitive manner in which Cassatt executed these mature paintings. Cassatt imbues the image with a spirit that is simultaneously timeless and modern, drawing on centuries of art historical precedents and transforming the traditional and familiar subject of maternity to reflect the modern era in which she lived. Although she had achieved recognition for this subject earlier, it was in the mature period of her career that the theme took on an increased importance, consuming much of her focus and supporting her broad popularity. By this time, Cassatt's celebrated reputation as one of America's most important expatriate artists had extended from France to the United States, a result of both a trip to her native country in 1898 and the thriving international market for her work, which was facilitated by such transatlantic dealers as Paul Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard.
The 1890s are often considered Cassatt's most successful years. Edgar John Bullard writes of this period in the artist's career, "During this decade...Cassatt reached her artistic maturity...the nineties was the most creative and productive for Mary Cassatt." (Mary Cassatt: Oils and Pastels, New York, 1972, p. 16) This decade brought forth not just a change in Cassatt's style but also in her choice of models. Towards the end of the century she no longer wanted to work with young children feeling that, "It is not worthwhile to waste one's time over little children under three who are spoiled and absolutely refuse to allow themselves to be amused and are very cross, like most spoiled children." (unpublished letter from Mary Cassatt to Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 8 March 1909, in A.D. Breeskin, Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings, Washington, D.C., 1970, p. 17) Instead she began working with older children and often used the same models repeatedly. "In this way [Cassatt] attempted to achieve an intimacy and familiarity with her subjects, as found in her earlier family portraits." (Mary Cassatt: Oils and Pastels, p. 68) The child in the present work is Jules, a boy of six or seven presumably from Beaufresne, the countryside village where Cassatt lived, who was the subject of many of her works at the turn of the century.
Jules and Antoinette appear together in a series of pictures including the present work. The best known and the most similar to Antoinette Holding Her Child by Both Hands, is The Oval Mirror (circa 1899, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), formerly owned by Harry and Loirrianne Havemeyer, collectors befriended and advised by Cassatt (fig. 1). In her memoirs, Mrs. Havemeyer recounted that after Degas had seen The Oval Mirror at the Durand-Ruel Gallery, he was at first immensely complimentary and then said to Cassatt, "it is the infant Jesus with his English nurse." (L. Havemeyer, Sixteen to Sixty, Memoirs of a Collector, New York, 1961, p. 244) While Cassatt took this comment askance, the intent of Degas' remark seems to have been that she, like himself, was both a traditionalist and a modernist.
Antoinette Holding Her Child by Both Hands and The Oval Mirror are similar in style, in composition and in their ability to capture the maternal bond while avoiding sentimentality. The simplified composition of each work gives prominence and monumentality to the figures. Similarly, the pose is crucial to the success of both pictures and demonstrates that, "Cassatt was not afraid to show the tension between intimacy and separation inherent to most relationships between mother and child." (M.R. Witzling, Mary Cassatt: A Private World, Washington, D.C., 1991, p. 18) In the present work, Antoinette's hands lay over the boy's in a protective, maternal grasp and the intimacy of their bond is conveyed by the closeness of their bodies. The compositional unification of the two figures is further enhanced by the continuation of the line from Jules' arms into his mother's. Cassatt establishes a repetition of forms in the painting to emphasize the connection between mother and child. This compositional strategy is accentuated by the soft rhythm of the recurrence in the folds and stripes of Antoinette's dress.
The lack of eye contact between the figures introduces an element of psychological distance between mother and child. This aloofness, juxtaposed with the physical proximity of the figures, evokes both a tender maternal bond and an emotional distance that prevents the work from becoming overly sentimental. Through Cassatt's thoughtful positioning of the figures, she captures the psychological nuances and emotional complexities that characterize familial relationships. The artist's interest in contemplative psychological states, evident in her early portraits and depictions of contemporary young women, now extended to the various roles within domestic situations. Cassatt's careful positioning of the figures in Antoinette Holding Her Child by Both Hands demonstrates that by the end of the century, "There is a quality of great austerity and of deep seriousness in her work." (A.D. Breeskin, Mary Cassatt: 1845-1926, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1947, p. 26)
Antoinette Holding Her Child by Both Hands triumphantly conveys the inimitable tenderness often present in a mother's interaction with her child. It is a superlative example of Mary Cassatt's ability to create works that are simultaneously modern and traditional. This duality instills Antoinette Holding Her Child by Both Hands with a timeless appeal.
This painting will be included in the Cassatt Committee's revision of Adelyn Dohme Breeskin's catalogue raisonné of the works of Mary Cassatt.
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