Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Adding to the past

 Mary Cassatt
(painted from a black and white photo -- 
photographer unknown --colours imagined!)
Acrylic on birch panel
5 x 7 inches
Barbara Muir © 2015
Today my subject is Mary Cassatt.  I was
working from a photo and cannot find the
name of the photographer.  If you know it,
let me know and I'll add the credit.

Cassatt is one of my heroes.  If you read
my blog often you'll know that I recently
had a wonderful dream that she was one
of a group of painting heroes walking down
the beach in Pugwash, Nova Scotia towards me.

Sadly that's not possible as Cassatt died
at 82 in 1926. I have painted her as a young woman.
In the novel I've been talking about for the
past few days, I Always Loved You by Robin
Oliviera, she is an impressive character.
Painting her and thinking about her life,
made me feel closer to her -- although
her work has always captivated me.

In 2010 I saw some of her work at the Met in
New York City, but the paintings were inside
glass cases, and low down.  Still I felt
thrilled to see them. See a sample photograph
of  how the paintings looked below:
Young Mother Sewing, 1900
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926)
Oil on canvas; 36 3/8 x 29 in. (92.4 x 73.7 cm)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, 
Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1929

Have a -thinking-about-your-art-influences day.

2 comments:

cohen labelle said...

I can see from your wonderful portrait of Cassatt that you are an admirer. I looked at the photo ref. of her and I consider her to be beautiful, a modern, independent woman ahead of her time. Enormous talent aside, she struggled to be free in a man’s world.
I think you caught that.
xo,
Marcia

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Marcia,

Thank you so much. You've made me so happy. The painting evolved as I talked on the phone (on speaker) to the best figure drawing artist in the land.

XOXOXOXOXOXO Barbara

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!