portrait sketch of Mademoiselle F., Wearing a Large Dark Hat, Mary Cassatt

Artwork Overview

portrait sketch of Mademoiselle F., Wearing a Large Dark Hat, Mary Cassatt
portrait sketch of Mademoiselle F., Wearing a Large Dark Hat, Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt
portrait sketch of Mademoiselle F., Wearing a Large Dark Hat
1899
Mary Cassatt, artist
1844–1926
portrait sketch of Mademoiselle F., Wearing a Large Dark Hat, 1899
Where object was made: France
Material/technique: drypoint; Arches® laid paper
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 409 x 288 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 551 x 377 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 16 1/8 x 11 5/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 21 11/16 x 14 13/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 x 20 in
Credit line: Museum purchase
Accession number: 1957.0053
On display: Brosseau Learning Center
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Brosseau Center for Learning: In Conversation with the 2025–26 KU Common Book

What happened in 1899, the year Cassatt sketched this portrait of Mademoiselle F.? What color was this large dark hat? How did they know each other? Who was this Mademoiselle? And most importantly, what did I have for dinner last night?

Art has a way of capturing the very essence of who and what and why we are. It is the physical manifestation of all we are, all we have been, and all we aspire to be. It is nouns, it is verbs. Art is, in many ways, memory itself. Or at least it is an attempt to make tangible something that, by design, is intended to fade. Should we let it?

Growing up, the phrase “Never Forget” was written in stone in my mind—a deeply charged, existential imperative. If we forget, we lose not only history but identity. We lose a people, a culture. And we open ourselves to the possibility it might again take place. And yet so much in our lives lies six feet underground in a cemetery of the mind whose location will remain forever unknown to us. Or perhaps it was once known but has been long forgotten along with a partner’s request for you to take out the trash.

Even stones erode.

But is there beauty in forgetting? Perhaps it is a kindness to forget. And perhaps it is a kindness to forget what we have forgotten. But still few things are more frustrating than receiving a 404: ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND “it may have been moved, edited, deleted, or faded into nothing but the faintest trace of the beauty that was once there” message from your brain.

Even stones erode (but we need sand for concrete).

Even sketches fade (but therein lies their beauty).

Eli Troen rates forgetting…a veggie burger! That’s what I had for dinner. And leftover pad thai.

Exhibitions

A Century of Master Prints: 1850-1950
1984
Teaching Gallery: Americans in Paris
2012
Teaching Gallery: Americans in Paris
2013
Teaching Gallery: Americans in Paris
2014
An Educated Taste: Nineteenth-Century Etchings and Drypoints from the Howard E. Crawford Collection
1973
The Howard E. Crawford Collection
1974
American Art from the University of Kansas
1977
The Organizers of the Armory Show: The New Spirit
1964
Brosseau Center for Learning: In Conversation with the 2025–26 KU Common Book
Scott Barber, curator
Wyatt Haywood, curator
Suzanne Huffman, curator
Ellen Joo, curator
Luke Jordan, curator
Arial Kim, curator
Doug Bergstrom, curator
Susan Earle, curator
Sofía Galarza Liu, curator
Kevin Liu, curator
Kate Meyer, curator
Cara Nordengren, curator
Hana Rose North, curator
Liz Pfeiffer, curator
Sydney Pursel, curator
Rachel Straughn-Navarro, curator
Eli Troen, curator
Maggie Vaughn, curator