Mary Cassatt, Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, 1880
Marry Cassatt was upper class. She was the daughter of a wealthy Pennsylvania business man. As a young woman, Cassatt garnered the educational and cultural benefits of having affluent parents. Her family traveled frequently to Europe in addition to attending the opera on a regular basis. This gave Cassatt access to all types of fine art from the great artists of the day. In 1861 she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After graduating, Cassatt moved to Paris to expand her style and knowledge and pursue a career within the arts.
Overall, the majority of Cassatt’s work revolves around female subjects. In her work, “Cassatt’s images include representations of women as independent public people; women pursuing interests which are not directed toward the needs of others; and women who enjoy the company of other women.”[1] Furthermore, Cassatt’s early works include several paintings from a study on the Paris Opera House. All of the subjects in this series are women. In a male dominated scene, “Cassatt’s art offers a new vision of the unconsidered facts of everyday bourgeois life, because she defined her world through women”[2]
Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge portrays a lavishly dressed, young woman sitting in a private booth at the Paris Opera House. She is adorned with a pink dress, white gloves, and a pearl necklace. Behind the woman is a mirror which reflects herself along with several other private booths within the opera house. We see other spectators filling these booths. The opera house is bright, attendees are able to see all other spectators distinctly, “The moment that’s being represented is clearly intermission. The chandelier has been lowered into the space of the audience. The lights are up, and so the audience’s gaze has shifted from the stage to themselves.”[3] It’s also important to notice that Cassatt paints this woman from a slight upward angle, giving the subject even more importance and power –– this feeds directly into her apparent wealth and stature. This is no accident that Cassatt has put so much emphasis on this woman who is lavishly displayed in her booth, “When historians talk about the late 19th-century Paris, they often talk about a culture of display, and this is a painting that is all about that.”[4]
The Paris Opera House is not only a grand display of show and wealth, it also puts its occupants on display. This painting shows the wealth of imperial France, “the stage of the opera house is not simply where the ballet takes place, but the stage is also the audience.”[5] The opera house offers several balconies and viewing points where the people of Paris can catch a glimpse of the fashionable and wealthy elite, “As at the Opera, boxes in the Italiens often provided a spectacle more intriguing than that on stage. Sophie Gay, for instance, noted the great care that a fashionable lady took to create a commotion on entering her loge. The more richly dressed and bejewelled she was, the greater the hubbub she provoked.”[6] In Cassatt’s other painting titled “In the Loge,” the subject leans forward on her private balcony with opera glasses browsing the other attendees. Furthermore, on the left of the subject, is a man also with opera glasses staring directly at her. It is a place filled with ‘looking.’
It is clear that the subject is portrayed as noble and assumed superior. As an audience member myself, I feel that we are looking at an elite. The subject leans back on her right elbow, almost with a sense of ease and carelessness: “there’s a strong diagonal that has a sense of informality and movement, real self-confidence.”[7] In addition, given the background information on the status of the Paris Opera House, it confirms this belief. Furthermore, the work of art clearly suggests that the upper class seem luxurious and confident, above everything else as they sit in their private booths towering over the stage.
I believe there are several audiences that Cassatt aimed this painting towards. Firstly, I believe Cassatt’s original target audience to be anyone attending the Paris Opera House in 19th century Paris –– people like her. Since it was a place to observe one another of similar status, it would make sense that the patrons would enjoy observing Cassatt’s opera house paintings. Moreover, I believe the opposite socioeconomic classes would also enjoy looking at Cassatt’s Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge. Since the life of being wealthy is something to strive for, the lower class would look at this painting longing for what the woman has.
Although Cassatt’s family was wealthy, their money did not directly impact her artistic status as one might assume. Although he did pay for her “basic living expenses”, Cassatt’s father was against her desire to paint, “refus[ing] to support her art supplies and her studio where she painted.”[8] Since her father did not completely cut her off, Cassatt did not have to worry about making an income and could focus on her art. This of course influenced her successes. On another note, recent feminist scholarship has focused on the fact that even as uperr-class women, “Morisot and Cassatt did not have access to the easy exchange of ideas about painting which took place among male artists in the studio and the café.”[9]
One could argue that Cassatt’s handling of class in Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge reinforces the understanding of womanhood during the 19th century. The female subject was a spectacle along with all women attending the Opera. However, I believe there’s a greater argument that Cassatt is offering a feminist critique in the way she has presented the subject. Cassatt has captured the woman with “an extraordinary sense of freedom,” something women did not possess in the 19th century.[10] Women faced abundant restrictions during this historical period. However, upon first glance this woman does not appear to have any limitations –– Cassatt managed to paint the woman with such grandeur and power.
In conclusion, Mary Cassatt’s Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, 1880, clearly represents the upper class with a sense of ease and wealth –– confirming Karl Marx’s notion of divided classes.
[1] Susan Fillin-Yeh, “Mary Cassatt's Images of Women,” Art Journal 35, no. 4 (1976), p. 359.
[2] Ibid., 359.
[3] Cassatt, Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, Khan Academy (Google Classroom, n.d.), https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/v/mary-cassatt-woman-with-a-pearl-necklace-in-a-loge-1879.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6]William G. Atwood, “A Vocal Art and Social Spectacle,” in The Parisian Worlds of Frédéric Chopin (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, n.d.), p. 190.
[7] Cassatt, Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, Khan Academy (Google Classroom, n.d.), https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/v/mary-cassatt-woman-with-a-pearl-necklace-in-a-loge-1879.
[8] Cassatt, Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, Khan Academy (Google Classroom, n.d.), https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/v/mary-cassatt-woman-with-a-pearl-necklace-in-a-loge-1879.
[9] William G. Atwood, “A Vocal Art and Social Spectacle,” in The Parisian Worlds of Frédéric Chopin (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, n.d.), p. 195.
[10] Cassatt, Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, Khan Academy (Google Classroom, n.d.), https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/v/mary-cassatt-woman-with-a-pearl-necklace-in-a-loge-1879.