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We look slightly down into a lime-green and white rowboat carrying a woman holding a baby and a man in this nearly square painting. The man wears midnight-blue shoes, pants, jacket, and soft, floppy cap. He sits with his back to us, bending forward to row the boat, which is cropped by the bottom edge of the canvas. The left side of his ruddy face is visible over his left shoulder. The woman and baby both have pale skin. The woman and baby sit across from the man, facing us to our left in the bow. The woman’s long-sleeved, sky-blue dress is crosshatched with pink lines. The baby leans back in the woman’s arms, and wears a pink dress, blue socks, and brown shoes. The wide-brimmed hats on both the woman and baby are painted pale celery green. They gaze toward or just past the man. The corner of the boat’s sail, also painted pale green, is pulled taunt by the wind to our left. Azure-blue water surrounds the boat up to the high horizon line, which brushes the top edge of the painting. The shoreline in the distance is lined with trees and dotted with white houses with red roofs.

Mary Cassatt

The Boating Party, 1893/1894

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 86

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 90 x 117.3 cm (35 7/16 x 46 3/16 in.)

framed: 112.1 x 137.8 cm (44 1/8 x 54 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Accession Number

1963.10.94

Artists / Makers

Mary Cassatt (artist) American, 1844 - 1926

Image Use

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Overview

This bold composition reveals the influence of the flat, patterned surfaces, simplified color, and unusual angles of Japanese prints, which enjoyed a huge vogue in Paris in the late 1800s. The dark figure of the man compresses the picture onto the flat plane of the canvas, and the horizon is pushed to the top, collapsing a sense of distance. Our higher vantage point gives us an oblique view into the boat. Its form is divided into decorative shapes by the intersection of its horizontal supports.

After 1893, Cassatt began to spend many summers on the Mediterranean coast at Antibes. Under its intense sun, she began to experiment with harder, more decorative color. Here, citron and blue carve strong arcs that divide the picture into assertive, almost abstract, shapes. This picture, with its bold geometry and decorative patterning of the surface, positions Cassatt with such post–impressionist painters as Gauguin and Van Gogh

This painting, one of her most ambitious, was the centerpiece of Cassatt's first solo exhibition in the United States in 1895. Her contacts with wealthy friends in the United States did much to bring avant–garde French painting into this country.

Provenance

The artist [1844-1926] until at least 1918;[1] (Durand-Ruel, New York); sold 1 October 1929 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.

[1]See 12 February 1914 letter from the artist to Durand-Ruel, in Lionell Venturi, Les archives de l'impressionism, 2 vols., Paris and New York, 1939: II:133. Lent by Cassatt to US traveling exhibition Six American Women, 1917-1918.

Associated Names

Cassatt, Mary
Dale, Chester
Durand-Ruel et Cie

Exhibition History

1895: Exposition of Paintings, Pastels and Etchings by Miss Mary Cassatt, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1895, no. 1.

1917: Exhibition of Paintings by Six American Women Painters, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Cleveland Museum of Art; Cincinnati Art Museum; Kansas City Art Institute; City Art Museum, St. Louis, 1917-1918, no. 1, as Party in a Boat.

1920: Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1920, no. 16.

1926: A Memorial Collection of the Works of Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago, 1926-1927, no. 26.

1926: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1926, no. 11.

1928: A Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Mary Cassatt, Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 15 March - 15 April 1928, no. 34

1965: The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

1970: Mary Cassatt 1844-1926, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970, no. 53, repro.

1998: Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no. 77, repro. (shown only in Washington).

2010: From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1942: French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 45, repro.

1944: French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 44, repro.

1953: French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 49, repro.

1959: Bouton, Margaret. American Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number One in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 34, color repro.

1960: The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 6.

1962: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 172, color repro.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 294, repro.

1965: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 85, repro.

1966: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:500, color repro.

1968: Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 158-159, color repro.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 20, repro.

1973: Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 110.

1975: Hale, Nancy. Mary Cassatt. Garden City, New York, 1975: 258.

1976: Lipman, Jean, and Helen Franc. Bright Stars: American Painting and Sculpture Since 1776. New York, 1976: 93, repro.

1978: King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 105, pl. 67.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 33, repro.

1980: Pollock, Griselda. Mary Cassatt. London, 1980: 71, color plate XXVIII.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 10, 17, no. 45, color repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 140, repro., 143.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 562, no. 856, color repro.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 150, no. 52, color repro.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 239.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 41, repro.

1993: Effeny, Alison. Cassatt. Rev. ed. London, 1993: 116, color repro. 117.

1994: Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York, 1994: 347-348, color fig. 23.25.

1995: Fichner-Rathus, Lois. Understanding Art, New Jersey, 1998, no. 15-34, repro.

1997: Hughes, Robert. American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America. New York, 1997: 259, 260, color fig. 156.

1997: Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1997: no. 145, repro.

1997: Wilkins, David G. and Bernard Schultz and Katheryn M. Linduff. Art Past-Art Present, New York, 1997, no. 9-62, repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 365, no. 301, color repro.

2009: Gariff, David, Eric Denker, and Dennis P. Weller. The World's Most Influential Painters and the Artists They Inspired. Hauppauge, NY, 2009: 119, color repro.

2012: Kennicott, Philip. "French Rooms Reopen, With Different Accents." Washington Post 135, no. 55 (January 29, 2012): E25.