Artist: Mabel Ducasse (American, 1895-1976). Title: Sleeping Cat. Pastel on paper. Unsigned. From artist estate. Dimensions: 81/2" x 8". Matted and framed under glass: 13 1/2" x 13". Cats have appeared in art throughout history as symbols of mystery, independence, cunning, and grace. For Mabel Lisle Ducasse, however, their presence in her work stemmed simply from a deep affection for her own pet cats. Ducasse began her artistic career as a fashion illustrator but became best known for her still life and figurative works in oil and pastel. She favored pastel as her primary medium, creating both domestic scenes of women at work and delicate still-life compositions. An accomplished portraitist as well, she received critical praise for The Philosopher, a portrait of her husband, Dr. Curt Ducasse, Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Brown University. Reviewing a 1927 group exhibition at the Providence Art Club, art critic Horace Reynolds wrote in the Providence Journal: “Mrs. Ducasse’s Philosopher is a fine drawing. Professor Ducasse is fortunate in having a wife who can so successfully invest his head and shoulders with the aura of philosophical calm and dignity…” (March 30, 1927).Her legacy has been honored with three posthumous retrospectives: at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art (1981), the Rotch-Duff-Jones House in New Bedford (1988), and the Newport Art Museum (1991). Her work is represented in the permanent collections of the RISD Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Brown University, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Florida International University.

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