The artist who lived by her grandmother’s ways

Black cats are considered bad luck in the Western world. But Cecilia Beaux depicted a black cat as the focus of her painting titled “Sita and Sarita” (1921). The cat, perched on the shoulder of a woman in a white dress, stares ahead. Why did the artist draw a black cat?

Beaux, born in Philadelphia, the U.S. in 1855, was raised by her maternal grandmother and aunt as her mother passed away 12 days after she was born. Her grandmother always told her, "Anything that was begun must be completed and conquered.” Perhaps it was her influence that made Beaux so strong and independent as a teenager. Since the age of 18, she worked as an art instructor and gained fame as a portrait painter after graduating from the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts. She learned Impressionism studying in Paris but stuck to realism and became the first female professor of her alma mater at the age of 40.

This portrait was repainted to donate to France 25 years later after the original version had been created at the age of 41. The model of the portrait is known to be Sarah Leavitt, spouse of the painter’s cousin, Charles. Sarita was an affectionate Spanish name for Sarah and Sita refers to a cat. The portrait is known to be a hit back to Impressionist paintings. Additionally, the black cat references Edouard Manet's painting Olympia, a painting of a naked prostitute and sexual connotations of the black cat with its tail struck up high. Beaux picked the black cat for an entirely different reason, however. The cat’s gaze suggests the painter’s determination to stay strong despite her parents’ absence. She saw herself as a new generation of women and worked tirelessly as a bachelor in a male-dominated artist society.

Beaux was hailed as one of the greatest female artists of the time in her forties. She held many exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe and won many awards. She continued to work until her death at the age of 87. As her grandmother taught her, she completed her race as an artist and conquered her age with her iconic portraits.


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