Girl with a Banjo by Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt
1844–1926 | American


 Girl with a Banjo

Signed (lower right)
Pastel on board

This important pastel entitled Girl with a Banjo by Mary Cassatt is a true masterwork from one of the most significant figures in the Impressionist movement. In the late 19th century, American artists in France faced marginalization, with women encountering even greater obstacles. Yet Cassatt overcame these challenges, not through talent alone, but with extraordinary vision and unwavering perseverance. Created at the peak of her career, this exquisite composition coincided with her monumental mural commission for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, underscoring her pivotal role in both American and European art history.

Encouraged by her close friend and mentor Edgar Degas, Cassatt began experimenting with the medium of pastel in the early 1880s. Her mastery of the medium became one of the defining elements of her artistic legacy. Girl with a Banjo exemplifies her technical virtuosity in pastel, with its vibrant, explosive use of color and dynamic brushwork, enhancing the delicate rendering of the young musician’s pale skin and soft hair. The composition is alive with texture and movement, bringing the figure to life with remarkable immediacy.

By the early 1890s, Mary Cassatt had firmly established herself as the foremost American female artist, reshaping the role of women in art and society alongside fellow Impressionist Berthe Morisot. While earlier female artists often followed the stylistic conventions of their male peers, Cassatt and Morisot distinguished themselves by focusing on the lives of women, depicting them as active participants in their domestic and personal spheres. In 1891, Cassatt was commissioned to create a large mural for the Woman’s Building at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Her monumental work, Modern Woman, spanned 54 feet by 14 feet and explored the expanding roles of women in modern society. A central figure in the mural depicted a woman playing the banjo—an instrument associated with African American culture and considered unconventional for women—highlighting Cassatt’s bold statement on women’s growing autonomy and their evolving place in the world.

During this period, Cassatt produced several works of women playing the banjo, many of which were preparatory studies for her mural. Girl with a Banjo stands as one of only two complete works on this subject, with the other belonging to the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This particular pastel is widely regarded as the finest of her surviving banjo-themed works. Unfortunately, Cassatt's mural for the World’s Columbian Exposition was lost after the fair, likely destroyed in a warehouse fire, leaving works like Girl with a Banjo as rare surviving testaments to this significant phase of her career. Cassatt’s legacy as a groundbreaking artist endures, with her pastels highly prized by collectors and prestigious institutions worldwide.

Circa 1894

Paper: 23" high x 28" wide (58.42 x 71.12 cm)
Frame: 37 1/2" high x 42 1/4" wide x 2 3/4" deep (95.25 x 107.32 x 6.99 cm)

View the Dossier

Exhibited:
The Art Institute of Chicago, Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, 10 October 1998-10 January 1999, no. 74, p. 218, 296, 325, illustrated in color; exhibition traveled to Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 6 February-10 May 1999 and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 5 June-6 September 1999

Provenance:
Roger Marx, Paris
Private collection, Tokyo, acquired from above
Sale, Sotheby’s London, 26 June 1990, lot 13, sold by above
Private collection, Texas
Private collection, Los Angeles, by 1998
M.S. Rau, New Orleans