"The Caress" and "Atlas's Slave"

Paper Summary:

The paper examines Mary Cassatt's "The Caress" and highlights how the entire picture is that of familial bliss, relaxing happiness and the idea of coziness and tenderness. The paper contrasts this to Michelangelo's "Atlas' Slave", which offers a rough image of a slave holding on his shoulders the entire weight of the world. The paper further points out how Cassatt's painting is already well formed while Michelangelo's work is almost partly created by the viewer himself. The paper notes a similarity of the two works that is the unnatural position of both works' center characters. The paper concludes that while one work is a painting and the other one a sculpture, and there are 400 years separating the two artists, both works of art are still excellent examples of how one can use stone or oil to express human feelings and reactions.

From the Paper:

"Mary Cassatt is one of the representative Impressionists of late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the United States and "The Caress" reflects this in a distinct tendency to suggest rather than clearly state. This suggestive style can be noticed, for example, in the wavy lines that define the bodies of female figures and the baby. This brings out a certain delicacy that the painter surely wanted to pass on to the viewer. Since the title is "The Caress", Mary Cassatt wants to show an image consisting of tenderness and care: a mother holding her baby, with the daughter simply participating in this happy familial picture and supporting the idea of happiness in a familial framework."

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