On a Balcony

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Arts of the Americas

1878–79

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926)

Shown at the 1880 Impressionist exhibition, On a Balcony depicts a woman in a private garden surrounded by flowers rendered in energetic brushstrokes of red, blue, yellow, and pink. Mary Cassatt focused on the activities of middle- and upper-class women in society—from public outings like the theater to domestic settings such as this one. Here, the blue rail of the balcony, visible near the top of the painting, defines the enclosed space of a garden, and the sitter’s morning dress further indicates the intimacy of the location. Cassatt signaled the modernity of her subject through the woman’s choice of reading material: she peruses a newspaper rather than a novel, demonstrating that even at home, Cassatt’s subjects are connected to the contemporary world.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Mary Cassatt
Title: On a Balcony
Place: France (Place depicted)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1878–1879
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed recto, bottom-left, on grass, in red paint: "Mary Cassatt.".
Dimensions: 89.9 × 65.2 cm (35 1/2 × 25 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge in memory of her aunt, Delia Spencer Field
Reference Number: 1938.18
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/26650/manifest.json

“The Cover,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 32, 4 (Apr./May 1938), 58, cover, ill.
“Chicago: Two American Impressionist Works for the Art Institute,” Art News 36, 35 (May 28, 1938), 20 (ill.)
“Carnegie Institute Presents Great Survey of American Painting,” Art Digest 15, 35 (May 28, 1938), 20 (ill.)
Forbes Watson, “The Land of the Free,” Magazine of Art 33, 11 (Nov. 1940), 622 (ill.).
Margaret Breuning, Mary Cassatt, (New York, Hyperion Press, 1944) p. 20 (ill.).
Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), 69.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt in the Collections of the Art Institute and in Chicago Collections,” Museum Studies 2 (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1967), 33–49 (ill.).
Adelyn D. Breeskin, Mary Cassatt, A Catalogue Raisonné, (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970) cat. 94.
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 262–65, no. 127.
Judith A. Barter, et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), cat. 21.

Fifth Impressionist Exhibition, 1880.
New York, Durand–Ruel Galleries, Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, Nov. 5–21, 1903, cat. 10, as Femme Lisant dans un Jardin.
Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Fifth Exhibition Oil Paintings by Contemporary American Artists, Dec. 15, 1914–Jan. 24, 1915, cat. 73, as Woman Reading in a Garden.
San Francisco, Department of Fine Arts, Panama–Pacific International Exposition, June 2–Sept. 6, 1915, cat. 3006, as Woman Reading in a Garden.
MA, Worcester Art Museum, Exhibition of Paintings by Modern French Masters, lent by Durand–Ruel Galleries, New York, New York, Dec. 2–30, 1917, cat. 1, as Woman Reading in a Garden.
New York, Durand–Ruel Galleries, Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, Nov. 15–Dec. 4, 1920, cat. 8.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Exhibition of Paintings by Contemporary American Artists, Jan. 8–Feb. 6, 1921, cat. 17, as Femme Lisant dans un Jardin, 1880.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Memorial Exhibition of Works of Mary Cassatt, Apr. 30–May 30, 1927, cat. 27, as Portrait of the Artist’s Sister, Miss Lydia Cassatt in a Garden, 1881.
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, A Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Mary Cassatt, Mar. 15–Apr. 15, 1928, cat. 7 as Girl Reading in a Garden, or cat. 44, as Woman Reading.
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Survey of American Painting, Oct. 24–Dec. 15, 1940, cat. 199.
Decatur Art Center, IL, Masterpieces of European and American Art, Mar. 4–25, 1945, cat. 2.
Springfield Art Association, IL, Masterpieces of European and American Art, Apr. 4–30, 1945, cat. 2.
Pasadena Art Institute, Mary Cassatt and her Parisian Friends, Oct. 16–Dec. 2, 1951, cat. 1.
Utica, Munson–Williams–Proctor Institute, Expatriates: Whistler, Cassatt, Sargent, Jan. 4 –25, 1953, cat. 18.
Art Institute of Chicago, Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Jan. 14–Feb. 25, 1954, cat. 10, as Woman Reading in a Garden, 1880; New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mar. 24–May 23, 1954.
Grand Rapids Art Gallery, MI, Cassatt, Whistler, Sargent Exhibition, Sept. 15–Oct. 15, 1955, cat. 5.
Palm Beach, Society of the Four Arts, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt, Mar. 7–Apr. 5, 1959, cat. 39.
Art Gallery of Toronto, American Painting, 1865–1905, Jan. 6–Feb. 5, 1961, cat. 7; Winnipeg Art Gallery Association, Feb. 17–Mar. 12, 1961; Vancouver Art Gallery, Mar. 29–Apr. 23, 1961; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, May 17–June 18, 1961.
South Hadley, MA, Mount Holyoke College, Women Artists in America Today, Apr. 10–30, 1962, cat. 1.
Albi, France, Musée Toulouse–Lautrec, Trésors Impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27–Aug. 31, 1980, cat. 43.
New York, Coe Kerr Gallery, Mary Cassatt, An American Observer, Oct. 3–27, 1984.
Nagaoka, Japan, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Shikago Bijutsukan Ten: Kindai Kaiga no 100–nen [Masterworks of Modern Art from the Art Institute of Chicago], Apr. 20–May 29, 1994, cat.; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug. 6–Sept. 25, 1994.
Art Institute of Chicago, Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, Oct. 13, 1998–Jan. 10, 1999, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Feb. 14–May 9, 1999, Washington DC, National Gallery, June 6–Sept. 6, 1999, cat. 13.
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Cassatt-McNicoll: Impressionists Between Worlds, June 3–Sept. 4, 2023.

The artist; with Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, by 1903 [New York 1903, cat. 10; letter from Charles Durand-Ruel to Mary Carton, Dec. 14, 1978; copies in curatorial object file; inscription on stretcher: D.R. N.Y 2707]; sold to Mrs. Delia Spencer Field (1853–1937; also Mrs. Arthur John Caton, Mrs. Marshall Field), Washington, DC, 1922 [notation in Catherine Beveridge’s catalogue according to letter from Albert J. Beveridge, III, Jan. 30, 1979; Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 1938, 58; handwritten note on incoming permanent receipt R6498, Jan. 14, 1938; copies in curatorial object file]; by descent to her niece, Catherine Eddy Beveridge (also Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge), Washington, DC [letter from Robert B. Harshe to Mrs. Beveridge, Dec. 10, 1937; copy in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1938.

Breeskin 94

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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