a bright-eyed cassatt portrait for monday

courtesy wikiart.org (PD)

Normally I stay away from Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) because she's inescapable anyway:  mother and baby here, women in garden there.  Not that she wasn't an excellent artist.  She was, as you see here in this Portrait of Mie Louise Durand Ruel (1911).  I bring you this Cassatt this morning because I haven't seen it before and it has a scrappier feel than her usual output.  Mie's dark eyes are bright and curious, and her dog is such a wiry-haired little scamp by the looks of him. This is the kind of spirit you need for a Monday.