I have chosen Five O’ Clock Tea or simply Tea for more scholarly reference of the piece to be my subject for this essay. Tea was an oil canvas painted by Mary Cassatt in 1880. If I am Mary Cassatt this is how I will explain my choice on this piece:
I consider this piece, Tea, as one of my most important piece of my works. On this piece, I was able to capture the honesty of the daily afternoon teatime of every woman during my time. Yes, it may be just an ordinary affair to most people, particularly women, but it’s not everyday and not every artist can capture the moment as honest as I did.
I have used heavy oil work on Tea in order to attain that afternoon shade that I intended to capture. Teatime is usually in the late afternoon, thus the daylight is still on its full glory but with the hint of resignation from its hues. The setting daylight is visible on the nearest woman’s countenance and the davenport.
Regarding the elements, I have chosen 2 ladies to be my subjects: one was older and one was younger. I believe they are the perfect subjects for the piece, because sophisticated ladies usually performed teatime during my time, if not with dandy men.
The ladies also used teatime in the afternoon to discuss things with their female friends or relatives. I can safely say that the two ladies are a visiting mother and her daughter, an owner of the house. However, I will leave the interpretation of their identities to the audience, particularly of their vague and subjective expressions on their face, to leave something for the audiences’ imagination.
I have also chosen the ladies as they will suit my combination of soft curves, thick lines, and heavy pastel that blended well to the layers of clothing and tousles of the subjects. You may also traced Victorian-era influence with some of the minor elements I have included on the painting.
You may also notice my fondness to children because this character of mine is evident the way I illustrated the faces of the ladies for being youthful. It is also very much apparent as how I chose to illustrate the body parts of the subjects. I simply used circular lines and pastel colors to attain such youthful air all over the piece. In fact, children may find my paintings to be entertaining and relatable for they can see the captured moment of their domestic setting with their mothers, aunts, or grandmothers on it.
Tea helps me to communicate with my audience throughout generations, it conveys to audience how I highly value domestic setting and everything that goes with it. I have high regards on children and women, and with them as subjects I can attain my aim to capture the ordinary moments of domesticated people that needs special attention from society that is very much focus on power and their players – my piece gives bring balance at least in aesthetic presentation.
