Mary Cassatt “Summertime”

From: Legion of Honor
Limited Edition: 28
Exhibition: Women Impressionists
Material: Printed vinyl
Dimensions: 35″ x 72″ (88cm x 182cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

Summary

In Mary Cassatt’s 1894 work Summertime, she captures the season with the image of a woman relaxing on a boat watching the water and ducks pass by. 28 banners from the Legion of Honor’s Women Impressionists exhibition evoke the feeling of summertime. The surface of the water Cassatt creates is made up of multi-colored splotches that capture sun, reflections, and shadows in a sea of rich color.

Description

Female artists were not numerous amongst the Impressionists, but the group accepted them as equals of the male artists and encouraged them as peers. The exhibition Women Impressionists paid homage to these women who had the two-fold challenge of working against gender stereotypes while also creating art in a new and often derided style.

These banners feature American artist Mary Cassatt’s painting Summertime from 1894. Having learned from the Impressionists, Cassatt often carried her sketchbook with her so she could capture genre scenes as she saw them. The languorous woman on the boat with a few ducks placed around her has this gracefully unplanned quality about it. However, by the 1890s Cassatt had moved away somewhat from the brightly colored, loosely painted works of her Impressionist colleagues. This work maintains the feel of those works while the technique has become more traditional and precise.

The banner features a detail of Cassatt’s work which covers the entire surface. The other side of the banner is pale purple with white text that reads “Legion of Honor/Lincoln Park/Women Impressionists”. At the bottom is the sponsor’s name and logo “Presented by Bank of the West”.

Provenance

These banners were displayed around San Francisco, California to promote the exhibition Women Impressionists at the Legion of Honor.

About the Artist

Learn more about Mary Cassatt