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Lot Essay
Lilla Cabot Perry spent her formative years studying under Robert Vonnoh and Dennis Bunker at the Cowles School in Boston, Massachusetts. She then traveled to Paris, where she attended the Académie Julian and the Colarossi Académie. In 1889, she met Monet who would prove to be the biggest influence on her career. Perry and her family spent multiple summers in the house and garden next to Monet's at Giverny where she would paint en plein air under the casual tutelage of the artist.
Mother and Baby (Alice Grew and Anita) demonstrates that, as Monet believed, Perry's plein air paintings of figures outdoors were her forte. In the present work, she focuses the same attention on the foliage--using strong, articulated brushstrokes to create form and texture--as she does on the figures' deftly finished visages. "Like Mary Cassatt, Lilla Cabot Perry was influential in bringing Impressionism to the attention of the Americans." (S.P. Feld, Lilla Cabot Perry, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1969, n.p.)
The present work portrays the artist's daughter, Alice, and her granddaughter, Anita, who was born in 1909. Alice was married to Joseph Clark Grew, a Boston diplomat who served as first secretary of the legation under Ambassador Gerard in Germany shortly before World War I. In 1931 he became the Ambassador to Japan.
Mother and Baby (Alice Grew and Anita) demonstrates that, as Monet believed, Perry's plein air paintings of figures outdoors were her forte. In the present work, she focuses the same attention on the foliage--using strong, articulated brushstrokes to create form and texture--as she does on the figures' deftly finished visages. "Like Mary Cassatt, Lilla Cabot Perry was influential in bringing Impressionism to the attention of the Americans." (S.P. Feld, Lilla Cabot Perry, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1969, n.p.)
The present work portrays the artist's daughter, Alice, and her granddaughter, Anita, who was born in 1909. Alice was married to Joseph Clark Grew, a Boston diplomat who served as first secretary of the legation under Ambassador Gerard in Germany shortly before World War I. In 1931 he became the Ambassador to Japan.