Jackie first came into contact with Monet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe in that back gallery of the Pushkin Museum while visiting Moscow in April 2005. The Pushkin is filled with “court casts”, reproductions of famous sculptures, which are not always extremely accurate. After wandering through gallery after gallery filled with these slightly skewed reproductions of seemingly every Greek sculpture, Jackie came across Monet’s study. At first she thought it had to be fake - some sort of court “canvas” - because the painting seemed so unlike the Monet of poplars, Rouen cathedrals and Japanese bridges that Jackie knew. After studying the sketch for a while, Jackie conceded that the Russians probably were not lying to her and that the painting was in fact a true Monet; in fact, one she liked very much, especially the yellow dress. Two weeks later Jackie was in Paris at the Musée d’Orsay and was surprised to recognize that same yellow dress in Monet’s fragmented final version. Upon viewing this larger version, she began to suspect there was a much bigger story behind this gigantic canvas which she had never heard mention of before, and thus her motive was born.
Jackie has been fond of Monet since she was little; in fact, her first real “contact” with Monet came when she touched his Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge (1899) in the Princeton University Art Museum. She wasn’t caught, but has learned the error of her ways and is glad to note that the museum has now wisely put glass in front of it. Jackie’s favorite reference to Monet in a movie is from Clueless:
Tai: Do you think she’s pretty?
Cher: No, she’s a full-on Monet.
Tai: What’s a ‘Monet’?
Cher: It’s like a painting, see? From far away, it’s okay, but up close, it’s a big old mess.
Jackie comes from Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She went to the Lawrenceville School, graduating in 2004, and then spent at year at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, England because she knew the
class of 2009 would be so much better than the class of ‘08. When not chilling in her sweet suite with her incredible roommates or in Marquand writing art history papers, Jackie spends her time coxing on Lake Carnegie. Her amazing crew, the novice openweight eight, had an undefeated season, culminating in their victory at Eastern Sprints the day before this paper was due. Her seven seat and four seat are also in the this course and have websites, which you should check out.