Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge
by CASSATT, Mary, Oil on canvas, 81 x 60 cm
This is one of the several theater scenes which Cassatt painted in the late 1870s. The woman in the painting is probably Lydia, Cassatt’s sister. The painting demonstrates the influence of Edgar Degas, the artist’s friend. It was shown in 1879 at the 4th Impressionist exhibition held in Paris.
The painting is a delight both for its leisurely brushwork and for its spatial construction. Without defining any middle distance, Cassatt places the figure squarely up front, while the mirror in which we see her back reflected (which at first glance seems a background of gallery seats) actually shows us what Lydia herself sees before her. Beside that of Degas we may detect Manet’s influence, namely that of A Bar at the Folies-Berg�re.