Mary Cassatt

American, 1844–1926

Heads of Reine and Margot, 1902

heads of reine and margot by mary cassatt

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Medium: Prints and multiples, Pastel counterproof on Japan paper
Size: 25 x 20 in. (63.5 x 50.8 cm.)

Price on Request

Somerville Manning Gallery

Greenville

About this Artwork

Size Notes: 34.5 x 29.5 inches framed
Movement: Modern Art
Catalogue Raisonné: This work will be included in the Cassatt Committee's revision of Adelyn Dohme Breeskin's catalogue raisonné of the works of Mary Cassatt in the section dealing with the artist's pastel counterproofs.
Provenance: Ambroise Vollard, Paris (acquired from the artist as part of her “studio collection")
Henri M. Petiet, Paris (acquired from the Vollard estate)
Private European Collection
Exhibitions: Adelson Galleries, New York, Art in a Mirror: The Counterproofs of Mary Cassatt, November 1, 2004 - January 14, 2005, cat. no. 26, illus. in color
The Citadelle Art Foundation, Canadian, Texas, Mary Cassatt, an American in Paris: Images of Quietude and Reflection, June 5, 2010 - July 25, 2010

Description

The present work takes as its subject two of Cassatt’s favorite models, Reine Lefebvre and Margot Lux, who lived in the region near the artist’s château in Mesnil-Théribus, fifty miles northwest of Paris. In her assured and modern style, Cassatt has captured the likenesses of Reine and Margot by merely suggesting their hair and dresses, while describing their faces in greater detail. This is particularly true of Margot’s face, which lies exactly at the center of the composition, anchoring the picture with its innocent charm.
This is the counterproof of the pastel recorded as no. 397 in Adelyn Dome Breeskin, Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970).