Women Artists

Collection Info

Art by American women constitutes eight percent of the Terra's collection and includes oil and watercolor paintings, pastels, and various types of prints. (updated 2/2019, following deaccessions)

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14 results

The Breeze

Mary Fairchild MacMonnies (later Low)

Date: 1895

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1987.23

Text Entries: Originally one of a pair of large paintings of mythological female subjects, The Breeze may have been inspired by MacMonnies' neighbor in Giverny, the dancer Isadora Duncan. Mary MacMonnies had only recently embarked on large scale painting with a commission to copy two frescoes by Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli housed in the Louvre; the delicate pastel palette and decorative quality of The Breeze reflects this experience as well as the influence of Macmonnies' contemporary, the French painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

The Green Hat

Lilla Cabot Perry

Date: 1913

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1987.25

Text Entries: Ward, Lisa M. Lilla Cabot Perry. (exh. cat., Mongerson Gallery). Chicago, Illinois: Mongerson Gallery, 1984. Ill. p. 9 (black & white). Martindale, Meredith. Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist. (exh. cat., National Museum of Women in the Arts). Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1990. Text pp. 80, 155 (checklist); fig. 19, p. 84 (color). Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text pp. 81, 115; pl. 53, p. 84 (color). Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 74; ill. p. 72 (color). Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. p. 99 (color). Lecomte, Vanessa, editor. Portrait of a Lady : peintures de photographies américaines (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américaine Giverny and Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2008. Text (checklist) p. 94. Bardazzi, Francesca and Carlo Sisi, editors. Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists. (exh. cat. Fondazione Plazzo Strozzi). Venice, Italy: Marsilio, 2012. Text, cat. no. 99, p. 237, ill. cat. no 99, p. 220 (color). Tóbín, Colm, Marc Simpson, and Declan Kiely. Henry James and American Painting, (exh. cat. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York). University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press and New York, New York: The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017. Text, p. 41; ill. fig. 19, p. 41 (color).

Japanese Garden (Japan)

Lilla Cabot Perry

Date: c. 1898–1901

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1987.26

Text Entries: Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. (exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery). Seattle, Washington: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 1980. Text p. 134 (checklist); ill. p. 149 (black & white). Master American Impressionists. (exh. cat., Marietta/Cobb Fine Arts Center). Marietta, Georgia: Marietta/Cobb Fine Arts Center, 1983. Text p. 5; pl. 17, p. 5 (black & white). Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984. Pl. 92, p. 89 (color). American Paintings III. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1985. Text p. 81; ill. p. 81 (color). Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 60; fig. 53, p. 60 (black & white). Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 60; fig. 53, p. 60 (black & white). Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text p. 115; pl. 50, p. 81 (color).

Thomas Sergeant Perry Reading a Newspaper

Lilla Cabot Perry

Date: 1924

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1987.27

Text Entries: Martindale, Meredith. Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist. (exh. cat., National Museum of Women in the Arts). Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1990. Text pp. 84, 86, no. 64, p. 156; pl. 46, p. 87 (color). Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 59; fig. 50, p. 59 (black & white). Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 59; fig. 50, p. 59 (black & white). Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. front cover (color), p. 100 (color). Sgarbi, Vittorio et al. L'Arte delle Donne dal Rinascimento al Surrealismo. (exh. cat., Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy). Milan, Italy: Federico Motta Editore, 2007. Text p. 359; ill. p. 240 (color as Thomas Sargeant Perry mentre legge il giornale). Muto, Shuji. American Literature and Culture at the Turn of the Century. Tokyo, Japan: Chuo University Press, 2008. Ill. p. 95 (black & white).

Jenny and Her Sleepy Child

Mary Cassatt

Date: c. 1891–92

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1988.24

Text Entries: Illustrated London News 223 (June 11, 1953): 73. Text p. 73. Mary Cassatt, 1844–1926. (exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd.). London, England: Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., 1953. Ill. p. 11 (as Mere et Enfant). Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt, Catalogue Raisonné: Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970. Ill. no. 188, p. 98 (black & white). The Art of Mary Cassatt (1844–1926). (exh. cat., American Federation of the Arts). New York: American Federation of the Arts, 1981. No. 24, p. 100; ill. p. 42. American Paintings IV 1986. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1986. Text p. 106; ill. frontispiece (color). Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-59, p. 168 (color). Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 248; pl. 71, p. 249 (color). Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 248; pl. 71, p. 249 (color). Costantino, Maria. Mary Cassatt. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1995. Ill. p. 71 (color). Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 28; ill. p. 29 (color). Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Text p. 90; ill. p. 91 (color). Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. (exh. cat., National Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Chinese and English version; citing English version). Ill. p. 171 (color). Art In America: 300 years of Innovation. Hong Kong: Wen Wei Publishing Co. Ltd, 2007. Text pp. 73–74 (in Chinese). Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. (exh. cat., The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Russian version). Ill. p. 89 (color). Pfeiffer, Ingrid and Max Hollein, eds. Women Impressionists. (Exh. cat., Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany) Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2008. Text pp. 167, 310 (checklist); ill. pp. 166 (color detail), p. 175 (color). Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA III: Covers and Essays from the Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, Illinois: American Medical Association, 2011. Text pp. 36, 203; ill. opposite p. 36 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. American Impressionism: A New Vision 1880–1900. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Giverny, France: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, 2014. (English, French and Spanish versions). Text p. 27; ill. p. 59 (color). Ikeda, Yuko; Pamela A. Ivinski; Maruko Kanai; Chinatsu Makiguchi; Nancy Mowll Mathews; Hideko Numata; Susan Pinsky; Marc Rosen; and Junko Uchiyama. Mary Cassatt Retrospective. (exh. cat. Yokohama Museum of Art; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto). Yokohama, Japan: Yokohama Museum of Art, 2016. Text p. 211, cat no. 83 (checklist). Ill. 115 (color). Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. MOTHER! (exh. cat., Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with Kunsthalle Mannheim). Denmark: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021. Ill. p. 93 (color).

Summertime

Mary Cassatt

Date: 1894

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1988.25

Text Entries: Mary Cassatt began her art training in Philadelphia at the age of sixteen, impatient with the academic emphasis on draftsmanship and eager to begin figure painting in oil. It was only after establishing herself in France as a portrait and genre painter, and exhibiting at Edgar Degas' invitation with the Impressionists, that Cassatt was inspired to develop an innovative, graphic and spare drawing style influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e prints pulled from wood blocks. Her famous series of ten color prints of 1890-1891, which included The Lamp, depict the enclosed and implicitly complete world of the upper class Parisian woman. Cassatt combined drypoint with aquatint techniques, used diluted printer's ink rather than paint, and employed the help of a professional printer; she explained that rather than duplicating Japanese printmaking methods, she had attempted to infuse a Japanese "atmosphere" into these works. Between 1892 and 1897, she designed nine more prints. Under the Horse Chestnut Tree typifies Cassatt's fascination with tender but unsentimental images of mothers and children; though she never married, she once declared that "There's only one thing in life for a woman; it's to be a mother." Cassatt probably executed Summertime at her country home of Mesnil-Beaufresne, where she lived year-round after her mother's death in 1895. The composition of the painting, including facing female figures in a rowboat cut off at right and an absent upper horizon line, reappears in one of her prints; though her range of subjects was comparatively small, Cassatt often explored a single composition in multiple media. Her use of bright, pure color, expressive brushwork and an extreme vantage point (in this case, from above) to depict a scene of modern recreation reveal Cassatt's thorough understanding of the Impressionists' experiment.

Marché aux Fleurs

Jane C. Peterson

Date: 1908

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1994.17

Text Entries: Sotheby's New York, New York (Sale 6568, May 25, 1994): lot 88. Ill. lot 88 (color). Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris. (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 78; ill. p. 76 (color). Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 26 (checklist); ill. p. 36 (color). Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 26 (checklist); ill. p. 36 (color). Roznoy, Cynthia and Arlene Katz Nichols. Jane Peterson: At Home and Abroad. (exh. cat., Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut). Waterbury, Connecticut: Mattatuck Museum, 2017. Text p. 71, p. 116 (checklist); ill. front cover (detail), pp. vi, 73 (color). Roznoy, Cynthia. "Jane Peterson: At Home and Abroad." American Art Review, Vol. XXX, No. 2 (April 2018): 102–109, 111. Ill. p. 103 (color).

Autumn Afternoon, Giverny

Lilla Cabot Perry

Date: c. 1905–1909

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.106

Text Entries: In 1889 Lilla Cabot Perry made her first trip to Giverny, summering there intermittently for many years. When her neighbor, friend, and mentor Monet died in 1926, she wrote an article that contributed significantly to the French Impressionist's renown in America. In Autumn Afternoon, Perry demonstrated her understanding of contemporary scientific color theory of the law of contrasting color. Perry's rapid painting technique, energetic but not random, and her brilliant colors-violet and green hues and an absence of black-have an affinity with Monet's palette and paint application.

Self-Portrait

Lilla Cabot Perry

Date: c. 1889–96

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.107

Text Entries: Known first as a close friend of Monet and a champion of Impressionism in the face of her native Boston's early misgivings, Lilla Cabot Perry also built a successful career as an artist. Perry, who described herself in 1889 as no less than "[a]rtist and woman, daughter, mother, wife," displayed resourcefulness and determination in establishing herself as a painter of portraits and landscapes. She was a published poet and the mother of three when she enrolled for her first formal art course in 1884. As an art student in Paris, she grew frustrated with the crowded conditions and teachers' lack of interest at well-known ateliers such as the Academie Julian, and opted to attend Alfred Stevens' select and conservative studio for ladies. When an exhibit of Monet's work at a Paris gallery inspired her to abandon an academic style for the bold color experiments of Impressionism, she relocated her family to Giverny, where they spent ten summers between 1889 and 1909. While she and her husband, a literary scholar, circulated with eminent members of Boston society such as novelists Henry James and William Dean Howells, they were not wealthy; throughout her life the sale of Perry's art works provided a needed source of income for her family. In these two poised self-portraits Perry presents herself in her contrasting but coexistent roles as professional artist and society matron. In the earlier portrait, Perry depicts herself capably at work, standing upright before her canvas with squared shoulders and chin aloft, her gaze intently directed toward an object or person to the viewer's right. Depicted at a greater distance, the ornately dressed Perry of the second portrait stands elevated above the viewer, her face mostly veiled in shadow. Her clothing in each work communicates differently; the loose work smock and bow tie of the first portrait are not gender-specific, unlike her elaborate fur-trimmed gown and hat in the later work. While both figures exude confidence, the later work resembles many fashionable turn-of-the-century portraits of women by American artists such as John Singer Sargent and Frederick MacMonnies in its mood of lush solemnity. It offers no indication that the elegant woman pictured is also the creator of the image, and appeals to the viewer through the figure's mysterious rather than commanding presence.

Purple and Green Leaves

Helen Torr

Date: 1927

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.142

Text Entries: Women should keep voices and color (in painting) lower. - Helen Torr, diary entry, 1938 What one critic has referred to as Helen Torr's "idiosyncratic, almost naïve sense of reality" infused her small paintings of shells, leaves and feathers with a luminous presence, but it also interfered with her efforts to sell and exhibit her work. When in 1927 the influential New York photographer and dealer Alfred Stieglitz refused to show her paintings alongside those of her husband, Arthur Dove (Stieglitz maintained Torr's work was "too frail for the room"), his wife Georgia O'Keeffe displayed them in a separate gallery of works by women. Despite some favorable critical response and Dove's hearty encouragement, Torr struggled with an acute awareness of her own flaws. Having nursed her husband throughout a debilitating illness during the 1940s, she gave up painting completely upon his death.

A la crémerie (At the Restaurant)

Martha Walter

Date: 1910

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.143

Text Entries: Born in Philadelphia, Walter began her training as an enthusiastic student of painter William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; she would emulate his impasto technique and impressionist's interest in the movement of light and shadow throughout her career. Like Mary Fairchild MacMonnies, Walter received a scholarship to study in Europe and then extended her stay for several years, enrolling at ateliers such as the Academie Julian and submitting work to the annual Paris Salon exhibitions. She shared a Paris studio with several other American women art students and has depicted herself amid such a group in the mirror at the back of the crémerie. This diminutive work thus becomes a complicated game of who is watching whom, involving the artist and her compatriots, their reflections, the nonchalant French couple and the viewer.

Portrait of Luigi Maratti

Susan Macdowell Eakins

Date: 1932

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund

Object number: 2000.1

Text Entries: Recognition for Susan Macdowell Eakins' work has long been intertwined with recognition of her gender. Eakins' first success as a promising student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was the Mary Smith Prize for a woman artist from Philadelphia, awarded in 1879. Her marriage shortly afterward to her teacher Thomas Eakins brought her own painting nearly to a halt, as she devoted herself to assisting with his career. Only after her husband's death in 1916 did Eakins seriously take up her brush again. Her portrait of Italian sculptor and painter Luigi Maratti, himself an alumnus of the Pennsylvania Academy, is typical of the kind of psychological portraiture grounded in a warm, earth-toned palette that Eakins and her husband developed.