Art Image Details
Young Mother and Two Children
| Title: | Young Mother and Two Children |
|---|---|
| Artist: | Cassatt, Mary |
| Date of Work: | 1908 |
| Medium/Support: | oil on canvas |
| Measurements: | 36 3/8 x 29 in (92.4 x 73.7 cm) |
| Inscribed: | Yes |
| Inscription Type: | signed |
| Inscription Location: | lower right |
| Inscription Text: | Mary Cassatt |
| Acquisition Information: | Gift of an anonymous donor |
| Acquisition Number: | 965.586.1 |
| Credit Line: | The White House Historical Association (White House Collection) |
| Scholar's Notes: |
" . . . Young Mother and Two Children is distinguished by directness and simplicity. The sturdy frontal composition is reinforced by the unadorned setting and palette. A neutral gray wall, a glimpse out an open casement at a vague, blended blue and green park, and the still more blended reflection of the park in the two panes of glass provide the foil for the strong, cohesive group of woman, girl, and baby. The baby's legs and the mother's strong embracing hands form the base of a pyramid that rises through continuous, unbroken contours to the mother's solemn, downturned head. The foreshortening is secure (as in the mother's right hand), and the shallow space is controlled. . . . ". . . Subtle modulated blues and blue-greens dominate. For example, the girl's 'brown' eyes are actually rendered with purple pupils and pale blue irises . . . . "Much of the painting is homogeneous: the merged contours of the girl and the woman, the parallel arms of the children, the open flow of the central axis from the mother's head through her décolletage to the baby's foot." |
| Source of Scholar's Notes: | Kloss, William, et al. Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride. Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, 2008. |
| Page Number(s) in Source: | 238-239 |
| Categories: | All Works of Art/ Artist's Nationality/ American |
| Type: | portraits/group portraits |
