Mary Cassatt’s Little Girl in a Blue Armchair

by Lisa Michaux, Tastemaker in Residence

In 1879, the American artist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was convinced by her friend Edgar Degas to show her art with the revolutionary group we now call the Impressionists. In addition to being one of the few women involved in the movement, she was also the only American to show her work in their exhibitions.

As a respectable woman from an affluent Philadelphia family, Cassatt could not spend her days in cafés or nights in dance halls like her male colleagues, so she focused instead on themes of family life and motherhood. Cassatt often used her nieces and nephews as her subjects, but in Little Girl in a Blue Armchair of 1877-78, Degas found the model that slouches comfortably in a colorfully patterned chair. It is quite an unusual composition and setting—is the girl exhausted after playing or just bored from sitting for Cassatt? Why are the chairs arranged so haphazardly? And is the dog supposed to be up on the furniture ;)

This is certainly not a traditional portrait of a child and her pet! Cassatt has captured a moment of everyday life with expressive brushstrokes and vibrant color. The work feels modern and fresh and it is a triumphant start to her involvement in the Impressionist exhibitions. 

Cassatt created this large painting with the intention that it would be her bold and serious contribution to the American section of the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878. She was furious when it was rejected and sent it the next year along with ten other paintings and pastels to the fourth Impressionist Exhibition. Little Girl in a Blue Armchair would eventually be acquired by the legendary Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard, and he placed it in American with Paul Mellon. The Mellons donated it to the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. where it is now a crowd favorite.  

One interesting fact about this painting is that it was recently confirmed by inferred testing that Degas painted some small strokes to the background. This speaks to the close creative relationship between Cassatt and Degas, but one wonders how she felt about his additions.