Art Analisys 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Art Analisys 2 - Essay Example Mary Cassatt’s unique mode of painting coupled with her interest in reproducing children portraits, grasped my attention during one of the recent visits to the National Gallery of Art, DC (National Gallery of Art, 2012). Consequently, this aroused my interest in her paintings because they contrasted with other numerous artworks in the art gallery, especially those of her male counterparts. In addition, after an intensive research I unveiled that she preferred featuring children in her paintings because they reveal their natural self contrary to the adults (National Gallery of Art, 2012). Besides Mary Cassatt being a woman, her paintings comprise the most praised impressionism artworks done by different reputable artists in her time (Harris & Cassatt, 2007). This is contrary to the past where women never featured anywhere in the male dominated field of art. The past â€Å"segregation† and negative perception towards women venturing in the field of art have recently yield ed to the rise of feminist movements, for example, "Guerrilla Girls" (Desmond, 2011). Material and Formal properties In this image, Mary Cassatt skillfully utilizes paint together with an oil canvas and brush, to show her prowess in transmitting ideas besides bringing out the aspect of impressionism (Harris & Cassatt, 2007). This is by selectively assigning all the objects in picture their respective natural colors, besides varying light’s intensity meant to show their different distances from the front position. For instance, despite the little child’s image tilted slightly from the center, it has high illumination compared to both the dog and rear objects (chairs) (Cassatt, 2008). Mainly, this is the painter’s unique technique to draw the viewers’ attention towards her focus, which is the little girl. Light should be emanating from the rear windows, but she goes ahead to provide her illumination (Harris & Cassatt, 2007). Consequently, this aids Mary Cas satt to bring out the aspect of naturalism represented by the little girl’s posture as she fidgets in the armchair, while in her private world of thoughts. The essence of negative space in this portrait is to create and emphasis on depth, which is apparent from the little girl’s position towards the rear windows. Hence, it contributes to the creation of harmony where the objects comprising the entire picture do not overlap disorderly (Cassatt, 2008). Content Mary Cassatt’s use of this image opens a window for the viewers to explore the lives of young children. The picture demonstrates that, children at certain instances become disinterested and bored despite being in the presence of things, which they usually treasure at their age. For example, in this image Mary Cassatt paints the little child with her favorite pet, next chair, in a beautiful room (Cassatt, 2012). However, not any of these things can sway the little girl from engaging in deep thoughts. This inf luences the viewer to start speculating what could be the thoughts of the little child, hence sharing in her world of thoughts. The image’s title also contributes to the mystery of the child’s thoughts, regardless of the viewer’s first influence by the image itself (National Gallery of Art, 2012). In addition, the essence of the sleeping pet in the next chair is to emphasis on what the little girl