Month: Published on Jul 21, 2022

1893-94 – Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party

Mary Cassatt’s Boating Party shows important changes in art and culture near the end of the 19th century. The Boating Party depicts evolving cultural norms around women and sport, and the rise of womenswear separates. Through Cassatt’s strong graphic shapes, we can see how Impressionist painting evolved to become more experimental and geometric in the 1890s.

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1879- Berthe Morisot, Young Woman Seated on a Sofa

Young Woman Seated on a Sofa by Berthe Morisot uses a light color palette and whimsical brushstrokes to create an elegant representation of the modern, bourgeois Parisienne. The painter brings elements of the outdoors into an airy apartment setting to emphasize the beauty of her subject. In demonstrating the upper class woman, Morisot takes care to use fashionable elements that would be admired by those in high society who engross themselves in symbols of femininity. 

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