Essay 1: Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge

As I was browsing artwork from googleartproject.com, this artwork made by Mary Cassatt name Woman with Pearl Necklace strike me a lot.

This artwork was similar to Johannes Vermeer’s seventeenth-century Northern European painting named as Woman with a Pearl Necklace in the period of Dutch Golden Age. I chose this artwork because of its meaning. I believed that woman before experienced oppression and we were superior by men. In this artwork, Mary Cassatt’s used light colors like flesh, orange and other colors which are very pleasing to eyes.  The woman is wearing pearl necklace, with eloquent dress, white gloves, and fan which represents her social status. 

 Also, woman portrayed as the subject of this artwork which I admire most. Woman is rarely became a subject to a piece of artwork during those times. It also represents that this woman was intelligent, elegant, independent, with class, sophisticated and stunning. Female became uplift to male by showing the characteristics and attitude of the female on this artwork. It reflects the interests and views of the female’s role to the society. Also, this painting also has the interpretation of the feminism with power and sophistication. This artwork is the inspiration of the young generation.

Behind Woman with Pearl Necklace

Mary Cassatt Self-Portrait

An independent and determined American female artist, Mary Cassatt was constantly faced with the oppression of societal restrictions on females as she pursued her dream career as a painter. But Mary's strong and steady spirit kept her dreams in sight as she successfully used her experiences and views as a woman in the 19th Century American and European societies to convey a true and believable reality through her paintings. 

Cassatt uses a particularly unique technique established by Degas to portray the theater setting as large and spacious. She positioned her subject in front of a mirror in order to depict the theater and other patrons behind the woman. Notice, Lydia is watching the show in one direction whereas the other spectators are viewing the performance in the opposite direction. Though it provides an image of a large and full theater behind the woman, it also “refutes the illusion of deep space by reminding us that we are looking at a flat, if reflective, surface just behind the figure” (Pollock, 146).

Resource: https://w.taskstream.com/ts/immerwahr/modernart.html/ajzgzl00anzcznzgzizfzezbzk