Child Picking a Fruit, 1893
Mary Cassatt. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Gift of Ivor and Anne Massey, 75.18.
“I began to think it would be great fun to do something I had never done before … I would not give up the idea for any thing.”
—Mary Cassatt on her decision to create a mural for the World’s Columbian Exposition, about June 1892
In 1892–93, Mary Cassatt seized the opportunity to try something new: she created a monumental mural for the World’s Columbian Exposition, an immersive fair that ran for six months in Chicago. One of the earliest public mural commissions by a female artist in the United States, Modern Woman soared above visitors in the Woman’s Building. In both subject matter and aesthetics, Cassatt made bold choices. Portraying women and girls engaged in outdoor activities, Cassatt transformed the everyday into a grand, symbolic vision of female agency. Her modernist vocabulary, featuring strong forms and flattened passages of vivid color, amplified her message.
The location of the immense canvas is unknown, and it is presumed to be destroyed. While it is difficult today to imagine the experience of seeing Modern Woman in person, by piecing together enduring traces of the project, including related works and rich archival materials, the fascinating story of the mural comes to light.
Join Annelise K. Madsen, curator of Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism, as she explores Cassatt’s daring composition and the stakes of this unrivaled public decoration.
About the Speaker
Annelise K. Madsen, Gilda and Henry Buchbinder Curator, Arts of the Americas, joined the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. She has particular interest in elevating historical women artists through museum programming, collections research, acquisitions, and scholarship. Annelise co-curated and co-edited Georgia O’Keeffe: “My New Yorks” (2024), curated and authored John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age (2018), and has contributed to a number of other exhibitions and publications at the Art Institute. She holds a PhD in art history from Stanford University and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis.
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