Mary Cassatt and the Vanishing Mural
On a cool autumn evening in Chicago, Christie Edwards faces a life-altering decision. She is attending an awards ceremony at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and she must make a surprising choice. In a room full of people—all staring at her—Christie searches for an answer. She knows it will change the course of her life.
Later that evening, still struggling to decide what she should do, flashing, brilliant colors catch Christie's eye. She looks up to see patterns of radiant green, deep red, and purple like a ripe plum. All the colors form a stunning mural by Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt.
Christie especially notices one scene. It shows a woman handing down the fruits of knowledge and science to a young girl. In that moment, she knows what she wants to do about her future.
A Dangerous Fair
Christie is one of the young sleuths I'm writing about, along with her friend, Melina Karyotakis. In my upcoming book, Mystery Fair, they must try to solve a dangerous mystery taking them to Chicago and the World's Fair. (Look for Mystery Fair to become available for pre-order soon.)
Also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, the Fair had many innovations and "firsts." One of them was the Woman's Building—the place where Christie views the mural and makes her decision.
Although work by women was displayed throughout the Fair, the Woman's Building marked the first time achievements by women had a dedicated home integrated into the main part of an exposition. And that is where one the great mysteries in art history begins.
A Mural of a Challenge
When Mary Cassatt took on the challenge of creating the mural, she had been painting for over 30 years. Even though she was born in Pennsylvania in 1844, Mary Cassatt was little known in the United States in the early 1890s. As an adult, she had joined the great tide of artists and authors finding their way to France.
As often happens when looking back at history, an iconic event could hang by a thread (or, in this case, a paintbrush) of decisions made in the "present tense" of that time.
Bertha Palmer was the president of the Board of Lady Managers, in charge of the construction and decoration of the Woman's Building. She initially wanted artist Elizabeth Jane Gardner to create the mural. However, Gardner turned it down, feeling that she did not have the stamina to complete the mural in such a short amount of time.
Working with Chicago art curator Sarah Tyson Hallowell, Palmer next approached Cassatt to complete one of the two enormous murals planned for the Woman's Building. (Young academic painter Mary Fairchild MacMonnies created the other mural.)
At first, Cassatt was "horrified," as she wrote to her friend, Louisine Havemeyer, "but gradually I began to think it would be great fun to do something I had never done before..."
Her artist friend, Edgar Degas, unintentionally helped her toward making that positive decision. In the same letter to Havemeyer, Cassatt wrote, "...the bare idea of such a thing put Degas in a rage and he did not spare every criticism he could think of..."
Degas did not think a serious artist should dabble in murals. But his reaction had an opposite effect on Cassatt. "I got my spirit up and said I would not give up the idea for anything." (Letter quoted in Webster, Eve's Daughter/Modern Woman. Please see sources below).
With only a number of months left to create the monumental "decoration" and have it shipped to Chicago, even Cassatt's fighting spirit faced a daunting challenge.
The mural, when completed, would measure 12-feet high and 58-feet long. That's the height of a one-story building, and about the length of a five-story building laid on its side. How would she go about finishing the task that had originally "horrified" her?
An Ingenious Solution
It was at her rented country home at the Château de Bachivillers that Cassatt came up with an ingenious solution.
In her glass-domed, outdoor painting studio, she had a deep trench built into the floor. Workmen lowered the art into the trench, always at a comfortable level, enabling her to complete each section without climbing up a ladder.
Mary Cassatt was nearing fifty, and although she had to accommodate some physical limitations, a very productive creative time had just begun.
Finally, when the doors of the Woman's Building officially opened, visitors gazed up at the mural with its brilliant colors. It was called Modern Woman, and some were shocked by the vivid colors; others disapproved of the subjects depicted. Viewers seemed to either embrace it with praise or push it away with decisive language. It was new, amazing, and controversial art.
Made up of three panels, Cassatt painted Young Girls Chasing Fame on the left panel. For the central panel, the one that has special meaning for Christie, Cassatt pictured Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science. Young women participate in Arts, Music and Dancing in the right-hand panel.
A Royal Purple Connection
I recently reread the story of Lydia, a successful businesswoman of the ancient world. The lustrous purple color in Cassatt's painting reminds me of the story featuring Lydia, a merchant of purple goods, also known as royal purple or Tyrian purple. The expensive dye used, one of the most valuable products in antiquity, never faded. (See Lydia's story in Acts 16.)
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." (I Peter 1:3-4 NIV)
I can imagine how this applies to knowledge, with Lydia handing down her business acumen and faith, perhaps to her daughters and granddaughters.
A wise Hebrew king once said, "The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out." (Proverbs 18:15 NIV)
The message for me is how precious knowledge is, and how important it is to learn the truth and apply it for good in a way that doesn't fade, in the same way as Lydia's cloth. That is the feeling I find in looking at these echoes of Mary Cassatt's mural.
Cassatt featured women dressed in spring-like, comfortable clothes (no corsets!) and the painting mixes classical allusions and other references with a natural feeling of movement and joy. The overall message is a hope-filled one of girls delighting in learning and enjoying new opportunities.
The Disappearance
This expressive painting now seems to exist only in black, and white photographs taken at the time and the detail published in World's Columbian Exposition Art and Architecture. The book by William Walton seems to be the only source now to give a hint of the vibrant colors in the original mural.
How does a mural the size of a large building vanish?
Just as my characters search for Melina's vanished father in Mystery Fair, art lovers have tried to investigate what happened to Cassatt's mural.
When the Fair closed down on October 31, 1893, the mural was put into storage at the Fair's Palace of Fine Arts (now the Museum of Science and Industry). However, it appears the large painting did not stay there, but was moved some time later.
What happened to the mural next? In the closing chapters of her book, art historian and author Sally Webster tells of her detective work as she tries to trace it.
The artwork was mentioned in a few letters, and interest was there to display the mural, but it never happened. After 1912, the trail goes cold.
The public has never seen the mural since 1893, and no known mention of it is recorded in over a hundred years. It has become one of the most puzzling vanishing acts in art history.
Will the flashing colors of Mary Cassatt's mural ever come to light again? I hope a wonderful discovery will be made someday in a dark storage room, and visitors can gaze at the brilliant colors and Mary Cassatt's unique artistry once more.
Solving a Mystery
Author Sean Vogel has written a fast-paced novel about four teenagers searching for the mural in present-day Chicago. I just finished the book and it kept me turning the pages. Children ages 10 and up will enjoy the adventure and humor; there is also a theme of sadness and loss to deepen the plot. Recommended for adults as well.
Sources:
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
“Mary Cassatt’s Chicago Mural.” American Girls Art Club In Paris. . . and Beyond, 9 Dec. 2014, americangirlsartclubinparis.com/2014/12/09/mary-cassatts-chicago-mural/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2024.
Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Mary Cassatt: A Life. Yale University Press, 1998.
Nichols, Dr. Kathleen L. “Mary Cassatt’s Lost Mural.” Mary Cassatt’s Lost Mural--p.1, arcadiasystems.org/academia/cassatt.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2024.
NIV Bible. “Lydia in the Bible: Influential Businesswoman and Evangelist.” NIV Bible, 8 May 2024, www.thenivbible.com/blog/lydia-from-the-bible/.. Accessed 17 Sept 2024.
“The Story.” Chicago Bound: A Jake McGreevy Middle-Grade Novel Features the Search for Mary Cassatt’s Lost Mural from the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, www.lostcassatt.com/the-story.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2024.
Webster, Sally. Eve’s Daughter-Modern Woman: A Mural by Mary Cassatt. University of Illinois Press, 2004.
