Detail of Interior with French Screen by Mary Cassatt in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Interior with a French Screen
about 1879
oil on canvas

Mary Stevenson Cassatt

Anonymous Loan to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Conservative critics faulted the unfinished appearance of Impressionist paintings, finding their loose brushwork and areas of unpainted canvas as evidence of sloppiness and a lack of skill. Cassatt's sketch just barely captures the details of this comfortable domestic scene, but the very informality enhances its suggestion of a casual subject.

Text from the Boston MFA label.