Mary Cassatt

After moving to Paris to acquire advanced artistic training, Cassatt became the only American to participate in the groundbreaking French Impressionist exhibitions of the 1870s and 1880s. Her female models were often members of her Paris household or neighbors from her nearby country home.

Cassatt made numerous studies of a little girl named Simone, frequently posing her in colorful bonnets. In this unfinished portrait, she skillfully models the child’s face then sketches her hair and costume with thick strokes of paint. She projects the figure forward from a dark background, but otherwise preserves the natural brightness of the canvas, an Impressionist technique that assured a light overall tonality.