The Black Hat
c. 1890
Medium
pastel on tan wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 61 x 45.5 cm (24 x 17 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1985.64.81
Art Historical Context
Mary Cassatt's *The Black Hat* (c. 1890) invites visitors into the intimate world of one of America's foremost Impressionists. An expatriate artist living in Paris, Cassatt was a close associate of Edgar Degas and renowned for her tender portrayals of women and children in everyday moments. This drawing, likely a portrait featuring a striking black hat, exemplifies her shift toward more experimental works in the late 1880s, blending observation with emotional depth during a pivotal era of modern art. Rendered in pastel on tan wove paper—a medium Cassatt mastered for its vibrant, luminous effe...
About the Artist
Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American painter and printmaker who became the only American artist to exhibit with the French Impressionists. Born to a wealthy Pennsylvania family, she defied social conventions to pursue art professionally, settling permanently in Paris where Edgar Degas invited her to join the Impressionist group in 1877. Her paintings of mothers and children—rendered with Impre...