Touring Art

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a free reception at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Among other things we were treated to a guided tour of their neoclassical collection as well as the National Gallery of Art's collection of impressionist paintings which is now slowly touring the country.

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to see these paintings at a time when the gallery was closed to the public. Instead of feeling like a herd of cattle, as one so often does when popular works are on display I had the chance to spend some time with these fascinating paintings.

One painting left a particular impression on me. I have long been an admirer of Mary Cassatt's work. She spent most of her career capturing moments of women and children in their everyday lives. She has a way of filling her paints with a hundred possibilities. Beyond the images she captures, emotions, stories, entire lives seem to jump off her canvas and into the imagination of the viewer.

Mary Cassatt

Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

1983.1.18 

The name of this picture is Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, but really I think it should be titled, Alex and Gryffindor. I never thought I would find that sloppy posture and board expression enduring, but somehow, way back in 1878, Mary Cassatt captured that face and melted my heart.