Ellen Mary Cassatt with a Large Bow in Her Hair - Mary Cassatt
Archival giclée
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Description
A portrait of the artist's niece, Ellen Mary Cassatt, captured with the loose, expressive brushwork typical of Mary Cassatt's later Impressionist period.
This portrait depicts Ellen Mary Cassatt, the daughter of the artist's brother, Alexander Cassatt. Mary Cassatt frequently painted her nieces and nephews, finding in them subjects that allowed for a candid exploration of childhood and domestic life. The work displays the characteristic brushwork of the Impressionist movement, where the artist prioritises the capture of light and immediate expression over rigid academic finish.
The subject is positioned centrally, her gaze directed slightly away from the viewer. The large, pale blue bow in her hair provides a colour contrast against her dark locks and the warm, golden-ochre background. Cassatt uses a palette of soft pinks, whites, and earthy tones to construct the form of the sitter. The paint application is loose and energetic, particularly in the rendering of the clothing and the background, which suggests a rapid, observational approach to the portrait.
Cassatt spent the majority of her professional life in France, where she became the only American artist to exhibit with the Impressionists. Her work often focuses on the private sphere, a subject matter she approached with technical rigour. This painting is representative of her later period, where her style became more fluid and her interest in the psychological presence of her sitters grew. The composition is cropped closely, focusing the viewer's attention entirely on the facial features and the expression of the young girl. By avoiding overly sentimental staging, Cassatt presents a direct and honest depiction of her relative. The work remains a clear example of her ability to balance the formal requirements of portraiture with the spontaneous qualities of the Impressionist aesthetic.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
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- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Ellen Mary Cassatt with a Large Bow in Her Hair - Mary Cassatt
Artist Biography
Mary Cassatt
She grew up in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), in a prosperous family. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she found the instruction restrictive and the male students hostile. She moved to Paris in 1866, copied old masters in the Louvre, and studied privately with several painters before finding her direction with the Impressionists.
Her subject was women and children in domestic settings: mothers bathing infants, women reading, girls at the opera, women having tea. The subject matter sounds conventional. The treatment is not. She observed her subjects with the same unsentimental attention Degas brought to dancers. The compositions are cropped and angled, influenced by Japanese prints and by Degas's habit of painting people from unexpected viewpoints. Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) shows a child sprawled across a chair with the boredom and physical abandon that adults rarely notice and painters rarely record.
She never married. She was wealthy enough not to need to sell her work. She used her position and her connections to persuade American collectors, particularly the Havemeyers, to buy Impressionist paintings. The Havemeyer collection, much of it acquired on Cassatt's advice, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum. She shaped the taste of American collectors more than any other single individual.
She developed cataracts and was nearly blind by 1914. She stopped painting. She died in 1926, at eighty-two.
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