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Audio Stop 216

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We look slightly down onto a woman dressed in golden yellows, sitting in a pale green chair, with a nude child sitting in her lap as they both gaze into a mirror in this vertical portrait painting. Both the people have pale, peachy skin. The chair is angled to our left so the woman’s knees and child cant down toward the lower left corner of the composition, and the woman leans onto the arm closer to us. The chair is painted mint green and the rose-pink upholstery is visible on the seat and a corner behind the woman’s shoulder. To our right, the woman’s vibrant, copper-colored hair is pulled loosely to the back of her head. She has a rounded nose, flushed cheeks, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her long dress has a low, U-shaped neckline. The fabric shimmers from pale, cucumber green to light sunshine yellow. The sleeves of the dress split over the shoulder and a second long, goldenrod-yellow sleeve falls from her elbow off the bottom edge of the canvas. An oversized sunflower, larger than the woman’s face, is affixed to her dress near her left shoulder, closer to us. She looks with dark eyes down toward the small, gold-rimmed mirror she holds in her right hand, farther from us. The child also holds the handle of the mirror with both hands, and in the reflection, the child looks back at us with dark eyes, a button nose, and pink lips. The child’s hair in the reflection is the same copper color as the woman’s, but the child on her lap has blond, shoulder-length hair. The woman rests one hand on the child’s left shoulder, closer to us. The child has a rounded belly and smooth, rosy limbs. The woman and child are reflected in a second mirror hanging on the wall alongside them, opposite us. Their reflections are very loosely painted. The wall behind the pair is sage green across the top and it shifts to fawn brown across the bottom. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the woman’s dress and hair, and are more blended in the bodies and faces. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Mary Cassatt.”

Mary Cassatt

Woman with a Sunflower, c. 1905

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 86

艺术家Maria Berrio和策展研究员Nikki Georgopulos讨论Mary Cassatt的温情绘画中的人物关系和符号。

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讲解员:
美国画家玛丽·卡萨特在1905年前后创作了这幅绘画。卡萨特多以妇孺画闻名于世。她的进步性既体现在充满现代性的印象派技法上,也体现在她对政治和社会的女性主义看法上。  

尼基·乔戈普洛斯:
我叫尼基·乔戈普洛斯,是安德鲁·W·梅隆博士后策展研究生,主要研究法国绘画。

我们不知道画中的女性与孩子是否存在亲缘关系,不过二人显得非常亲密无间。卡萨特关注未来。所以我们可以把这幅画理解为一种指引。

玛丽亚·贝里奥:
我叫玛丽亚·贝里奥。我是一名艺术家。如果我们看向那面小镜子,上面反射出小女孩的镜像,仿佛她被困在这小圆框里。卡萨特在这里想表达的是,人会受到社会控制,但如何看待自己,以及怎样才能逃离这些社会规训,取决于我们自己。所以我觉得这幅画非常美。画家精心描绘了女人循循善诱的样子:她要教孩子学会正确看待自己。

讲解员:
女人身上戴的向日葵和镜子一样显眼。这朵向日葵可能象征着女性争取投票权的斗争历史。  

尼基·乔戈普洛斯:
我发现卡萨特创作这幅画的时代背景大约在1905年,当时向日葵已经成为美国妇女选举权运动的主要象征。卡萨特非常巧妙地借由暗喻,通过一种人们认为她作为一名女艺术家可以使用的方式,掩饰她在妇女选举权问题上所认同的较为激进的观念。  
 

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