back
Mary Cassatt was the only American among the Impressionist
group. Born near Pittsburg and educated at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, Cassatt ventured to Paris after becoming
disillusioned by the art education she was receiving.
After brief success at the Salon, Cassatt became a
vocal critic of the organization’s conservative approach and
treatment of women. Her longtime friend Edgar Degas invited
Cassatt to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1877. Degas and
Cassatt worked side by side for several years, each with an
interest in pastels, etching, and a similar approach to
painting.
Cassatt was primarily a figure painter,
often depicting the tender relationship between mothers and
children. As a lifelong supporter of equal rights for women,
Cassatt’s subject matter evokes the dignity and strength of
women and the many roles they have independent of men.
There are two ways for a painter: the broad and easy one or the narrow and hard one.
Born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, into a prosperous banking family.
Travels to Europe and begins taking art classes in Paris.
Her painting The Mandolin Player is accepted at the Paris Salon.
Returns to Philadelphia at the start of Franco-Prussian War.
Moves back to Paris and begins to show regularly in the Salon.
Degas invites her to join the group of Impressionists.
Exhibits in four of the eight Impressionist exhibitions.
Failing eyesight severely curtails Cassatt’s work. In 1904, she stops painting.
Dies at her country home, Château de Beaufresne, Oise, France.
1. Self-Portrait (detail), about 1880, gouache and watercolor over graphite on paper. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.76.33.
2. Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.18.
3. The Cup of Tea, about 1880–81, oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, From the Collection of James Stillman, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, 1922, 22.16.17.
4. The Boating Party, 1893–1894, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.94.