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old_wikitext)'{{Infobox artist | bgcolour = #6495ED | name = Mary Cassatt | image = Mary Cassatt-Selfportrait.jpg | imagesize = 225px | caption = ''Self-portrait'' by Mary Cassatt, c. 1878, [[gouache]] on paper, 23⅝ × 16 3/16 in., <br/>[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]] | birth_name = Mary Stevenson Cassatt | birth_date = {{birth date|1844|5|22}} | birth_place = [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[United States]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1926|6|14|1844|5|22}} | death_place = Château de Beaufresne, near [[Paris]], [[France]] | nationality = [[United States|American]] | field = [[Painting]] | training = [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]],<br/> [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], [[Charles Joshua Chaplin|Charles Chaplin]], [[Thomas Couture]] | movement = [[Impressionism]] | works = }} '''Mary Stevenson Cassatt''' ({{IPAc-en|icon|k|ə|ˈ|s|æ|t}}; May 22, 1844{{spaced ndash}}June 14, 1926) was an [[United States|American]] painter and [[printmaker]]. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended [[Edgar Degas]] and later exhibited among the [[Impressionists]]. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. She was described by [[Gustave Geffroy]] in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside [[Marie Bracquemond]] and [[Berthe Morisot]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Geffroy | first = Gustave | title = Histoire de l'Impressionnisme | journal = La Vie artistique | pages = 268 | year = 1894 }}.</ref> ==Early life== Cassatt was born in [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]], [[Pennsylvania]], which is now part of [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]].<ref name="Columbus Museum of Art p.36">{{cite book |last = Roberts |first = Norma J. |title = The American Collections |publisher = [[Columbus Museum of Art]] |year = 1988 | location = Columbus |isbn= 978-0-918881-20-5|page = 36}}</ref> She was born into an [[Upper middle class|upper-middle-class]] family:{{sfn|Pollock|1998|p=280}} her father, Robert Simpson Cassat (later Cassatt), was a successful stockbroker and land speculator, and her mother, Katherine Kelso Johnston, came from a banking family. Katherine Cassatt, educated and very well read, had a profound influence on her daughter.{{sfn|Pollock|1998|pp=281–82}} To that effect, Cassatt's lifelong friend [[Louisine Havemeyer]] wrote in her memoirs: "Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Mary Cassatt's mother would know at once that it was from her and her alone that [Mary] inherited her ability."<ref>Havemeyer, Louisine (1961). ''Sixteen to sixty: memoirs of a collector''. New York: Priv. Print. for the family of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 272.</ref> The ancestral name had been Cossart.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=3}} Cassatt was a distant cousin of artist [[Robert Henri]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Perlman |first=Bennard B. |title=Robert Henri: His Life and Art |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=GAOCYTyD2_cC&pg=PA1 | page=1 |location=New York | publisher= Dover Publications |year=1991 | isbn= 978-0-486-26722-7}}</ref> Cassatt was one of seven children, of which two died in infancy. Her family moved eastward, first to [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], then to the [[Philadelphia]] area, where she began schooling at age 6. Cassatt grew up in an environment that viewed travel as integral to education; she spent 5 years in Europe and visited many of the capitals, including London, Paris, and Berlin. While abroad she learned German and French and had her first lessons in drawing and music.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=11}} Her first exposure to French artists [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]], [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]], [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot|Corot]], and [[Gustave Courbet|Courbet]] was likely at the Paris World’s Fair of 1855. Also exhibited at the exhibition were [[Edgar Degas|Degas]] and [[Camille Pissarro|Pissarro]], both of whom would be her future colleagues and mentors.{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=10–12}} Though her family objected to her becoming a professional artist, Cassatt began studying painting at the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]] in Philadelphia at the early age of 15.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=15}} Part of her parents' concern may have been Cassatt's exposure to feminist ideas and the bohemian behavior of some of the male students. Although about 20 percent of the students were female, most viewed art as a socially valuable skill; few of them were determined, as Cassatt was, to make art their career.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=18}} She continued her studies from 1861 through 1865, the duration of the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Columbus Museum of Art p.36" /> Among her fellow students was [[Thomas Eakins]], later the controversial director of the Academy. Impatient with the slow pace of instruction and the patronizing attitude of the male students and teachers, she decided to study the [[Old Master|old masters]] on her own. She later said, "There was no teaching" at the Academy. Female students could not use live models (until somewhat later) and the principal training was primarily drawing from casts.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=16}} Cassatt decided to end her studies (at that time, no degree was granted). After overcoming her father's objections, she moved to Paris in 1866, with her mother and family friends acting as chaperones.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=29}} Since women could not yet attend the [[École des Beaux-Arts]], she applied to study privately with masters from the school{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=31}} and was accepted to study with [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], a highly regarded teacher known for his hyper-realistic technique and his depiction of exotic subjects. A few months later Gérôme would also accept Eakins as a student.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=31}} Cassatt augmented her artistic training with daily copying in the [[Louvre]] (she obtained the required permit, which was necessary to control the "copyists", usually low-paid women, who daily filled the museum to paint copies for sale). The museum also served as a social meeting place for Frenchmen and American female students, who like Cassatt, were not allowed to attend cafes where the avant-garde socialized. In this manner, fellow artist and friend [[Elizabeth Jane Gardner]] met and married famed academic painter [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]].{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=32}} [[Image:Mary Cassatt 002.jpg|''The Boating Party'' 1893-94|thumb|right|275px|''The Boating Party'' by Mary Cassatt, 1893–94, oil on canvas, 35½ × 46 in., [[National Gallery of Art, Washington]]]] Toward the end of 1866, she joined a painting class taught by [[Charles Joshua Chaplin|Charles Chaplin]], a noted genre artist. In 1868, Cassatt also studied with artist [[Thomas Couture]], whose subjects were mostly romantic and urban.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=54}} On trips to the countryside, the students drew from life, particularly the peasants going about their daily activities. In 1868 one of her paintings, ''A Mandoline Player'', was accepted for the first time by the selection jury for the [[Paris Salon]]. This work is in the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] style of [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot|Corot]] and Couture,{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=47}} and is one of only two paintings from the first decade of her career that can be documented today.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=54}} The French art scene was in a process of change, as radical artists such as Courbet and [[Édouard Manet|Manet]] tried to break away from accepted Academic tradition and the Impressionists were in their formative years. Cassatt's friend Eliza Haldeman wrote home that artists "are leaving the Academy style and each seeking a new way, consequently just now everything is Chaos".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=32}} Cassatt, on the other hand, would continue to work in the traditional manner, submitting works to the Salon for over ten years, with increasing frustration. Returning to the United States in the late summer of 1870—as the [[Franco-Prussian War]] was starting—Cassatt lived with her family in Altoona. Her father continued to resist her chosen vocation, and paid for her basic needs, but not her art supplies.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=75}} She placed two of her paintings in a New York gallery and found many admirers but no purchasers. She was also dismayed at the lack of paintings to study while staying at her summer residence. Cassatt even considered giving up art, as she was determined to make an independent living. She wrote in a letter of July, 1871, "I have given up my studio & torn up my father's portrait, & have not touched a brush for six weeks nor ever will again until I see some prospect of getting back to Europe. I am very anxious to go out west next fall & get some employment, but I have not yet decided where."{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=74}} She traveled to Chicago to try her luck but lost some of her early paintings in the [[Great Chicago Fire]] of 1871.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=36}} Shortly afterward, her work attracted the attention of the [[Archbishop]] of Pittsburgh, who commissioned her to paint two copies of paintings by [[Correggio]] in [[Parma]], [[Italy]], advancing her enough money to cover her travel expenses and part of her stay. In her excitement she wrote, "O how wild I am to get to work, my fingers farely itch & my eyes water to see a fine picture again".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=76}} With Emily Sartain, a fellow artist from a well-regarded artistic family from Philadelphia, Cassatt set out for Europe again. ==Impressionism== [[Image:Cassat CupOfTea.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Tea'' by Mary Cassatt, 1880, oil on canvas, 25½ × 36¼ in., [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]]] Within months of her return to Europe in the autumn of 1871, Cassatt's prospects had brightened. Her painting ''Two Women Throwing Flowers During Carnival'' was well received in the Salon of 1872, and was purchased. She attracted much favorable notice in Parma and was supported and encouraged by the art community there: "All Parma is talking of Miss Cassatt and her picture, and everyone is anxious to know her".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=79}} After completing her commission for the archbishop, Cassatt traveled to [[Madrid]] and [[Seville]], where she painted a group of paintings of Spanish subjects, including ''Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla'' (1873, in the [[National Museum of American Art]], [[Smithsonian Institution]]). In 1874, she made the decision to take up residence in France. She was joined by her sister Lydia who shared an apartment with her. Cassatt continued to express criticism of the politics of the Salon and the conventional taste that prevailed there. She was blunt in her comments, as reported by Sartain, who wrote: "she is entirely too slashing, snubs all modern art, disdains the Salon pictures of [[Alexandre Cabanel|Cabanel]], [[Léon Bonnat|Bonnat]], all the names we are used to revere".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=87}} Cassatt saw that works by female artists were often dismissed with contempt unless the artist had a friend or protector on the jury, and she would not flirt with jurors to curry favor.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|pp=104–105}} Her cynicism grew when one of the two pictures she submitted in 1875 was refused by the jury, only to be accepted the following year after she darkened the background. She had quarrels with Sartain, who thought Cassatt too outspoken and self-centered, and eventually they parted. Out of her distress and self-criticism, Cassatt decided that she needed to move away from genre paintings and onto more fashionable subjects, in order to attract portrait commissions from American socialites abroad, but that attempt bore little fruit at first.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=96}} [[Image:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 051.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Edgar Degas]], ''Portrait of Miss Cassatt, Seated, Holding Cards'', c. 1876–1878, oil on canvas]] In 1877, both her entries were rejected, and for the first time in seven years she had no works in the Salon.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=100}} At this low point in her career she was invited by Edgar Degas to show her works with the [[Impressionism|Impressionists]], a group that had begun their own series of independent exhibitions in 1874 with much attendant notoriety. The Impressionists (also known as the "Independents" or "Intransigents") had no formal manifesto and varied considerably in subject matter and technique. They tended to prefer open air painting and the application of vibrant color in separate strokes with little pre-mixing, which allows the eye to merge the results in an “impressionistic” manner. The Impressionists had been receiving the wrath of the critics for several years. Henry Bacon, a friend of the Cassatts, thought that the Impressionists were so radical that they were "afflicted with some hitherto unknown disease of the eye".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=107}} They already had one female member, artist [[Berthe Morisot]], who became Cassatt’s friend and colleague. Cassatt admired Degas, whose [[pastel]]s had made a powerful impression on her when she encountered them in an art dealer's window in 1875. "I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could<!-- OK here: don't correct it--> of his art," she later recalled. "It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it."{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=114}} She accepted Degas' invitation with enthusiasm, and began preparing paintings for the next Impressionist show, planned for 1878, which (after a postponement because of the World's Fair) took place on April 10, 1879. She felt comfortable with the Impressionists and joined their cause enthusiastically, declaring: "we are carrying on a despairing fight & need all our forces".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=118}} Unable to attend cafes with them without attracting unfavorable attention, she met with them privately and at exhibitions. She now hoped for commercial success selling paintings to the sophisticated Parisians who preferred the avant-garde. Her style had gained a new spontaneity during the intervening two years. Previously a studio-bound artist, she had adopted the practice of carrying a sketchbook with her while out-of-doors or at the theater, and recording the scenes she saw.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=125}} [[Image:Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) - Summertime (c1894).jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Summertime'' by Mary Cassatt, c. 1894, oil on canvas, [[Hammer Museum|Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center]]]] In 1877, Cassatt was joined in Paris by her father and mother, who returned with her sister Lydia. Mary valued their companionship, as neither she nor Lydia had married. Mary had decided early in life that marriage would be incompatible with her career. Lydia, who was frequently painted by her sister, suffered from recurrent bouts of illness, and her death in 1882 left Cassatt temporarily unable to work.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=163}} Cassatt's father insisted that her studio and supplies be covered by her sales, which were still meager. Afraid of having to paint "[[potboiler]]s" to make ends meet, Cassatt applied herself to produce some quality paintings for the next Impressionist exhibition. Three of her most accomplished works from 1878 were ''Portrait of the Artist'' (self-portrait), ''Little Girl in a Blue Armchair'', and ''Reading Le Figaro'' (portrait of her mother). Degas had considerable influence on Cassatt. She became extremely proficient in the use of [[pastel]]s, eventually creating many of her most important works in this medium. Degas also introduced her to [[etching]], of which he was a recognized master. The two worked side-by-side for a while, and her [[drawing|draftsmanship]] gained considerable strength under his tutelage. He depicted her in a series of etchings recording their trips to the Louvre. She had strong feelings for him but learned not to expect too much from his fickle and temperamental nature. The sophisticated and well-dressed Degas, then forty-five, was a welcome dinner guest at the Cassatt residence.{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=63–64}} The Impressionist exhibit of 1879 was the most successful to date, despite the absence of [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|Renoir]], [[Alfred Sisley|Sisley]], [[Édouard Manet|Manet]] and [[Paul Cézanne|Cézanne]], who were attempting once again to gain recognition at the Salon. Through the efforts of [[Gustave Caillebotte]], who organized and underwrote the show, the group made a profit and sold many works, although the criticism continued as harsh as ever. The ''Revue des Deux Mondes'' wrote, "M. Degas and Mlle. Cassatt are, nevertheless, the only artists who distinguish themselves... and who offer some attraction and some excuse in the pretentious show of window dressing and infantile daubing".{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=73}} Cassatt displayed eleven works, including ''Lydia in a Loge, Wearing a Pearl Necklace, (Woman in a Loge)''. Although critics claimed that Cassatt's colors were too bright and that her portraits were too accurate to be flattering to the subjects, her work was not savaged as was [[Claude Monet|Monet]]'s, whose circumstances were the most desperate of all the Impressionists at that time. She used her share of the profits to purchase a work by Degas and one by Monet.{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=72–73}} She exhibited in the Impressionist Exhibitions that followed in 1880 and 1881, and she remained an active member of the Impressionist circle until 1886. In 1886, Cassatt provided two paintings for the first Impressionist exhibition in the United States, organized by art dealer [[Paul Durand-Ruel]]. Her friend [[Louisine Elder]] married [[H.O. Havemeyer|Harry Havemeyer]] in 1883, and with Cassatt as advisor, the couple began collecting the Impressionists on a grand scale. Much of their vast collection is now in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York City.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=167}} She also made several portraits of family members during that period, of which ''Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and His Son Robert Kelso'' (1885) is one of her best regarded. Cassatt's style then evolved, and she moved away from Impressionism to a simpler, more straightforward approach. She began to exhibit her works in New York galleries as well. After 1886, Cassatt no longer identified herself with any art movement and experimented with a variety of techniques. ==Later life== [[File:The Child's Bath by Mary Cassatt 1893.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Child's Bath]] (The Bath)'' by Mary Cassatt, 1893, oil on canvas, 39½ × 26 in., [[Art Institute of Chicago]]<ref>[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/Impressionism/Cassatt "The Child's Bath"]. ''The Art Institute of Chicago''. Retrieved April 9, 2012.</ref>]] Cassatt's popular reputation is based on an extensive series of rigorously drawn, tenderly observed, yet largely unsentimental paintings and prints on the theme of the mother and child. The earliest dated work on this subject is the [[drypoint]] ''Gardner Held by His Mother'' (an impression inscribed "Jan/88" is in the [[New York Public Library]]),{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=182 and note on p. 346}} although she had painted a few earlier works on the theme. Some of these works depict her own relatives, friends, or clients, although in her later years she generally used professional models in compositions that are often reminiscent of [[Italian Renaissance]] depictions of the [[Madonna and Child]]. After 1900, she concentrated almost exclusively on mother-and-child subjects.{{sfn|Kloss|1985|p=106}} The 1890s were Cassatt's busiest and most creative time. She had matured considerably and became more diplomatic and less blunt in her opinions. She also became a role model for young American artists who sought her advice. Among them was [[Lucy A. Bacon]], whom Cassatt introduced to [[Camille Pissarro]]. Though the Impressionist group disbanded, Cassatt still had contact with some of the members, including Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=155}} In 1891, she exhibited a series of highly original colored drypoint and [[aquatint]] prints, including ''Woman Bathing'' and ''The Coiffure'', inspired by the Japanese masters shown in Paris the year before. (See [[Japonism]]) Cassatt was attracted to the simplicity and clarity of Japanese design, and the skillful use of blocks of color. In her interpretation, she used primarily light, delicate pastel colors and avoided black (a "forbidden" color among the Impressionists). A. Breeskin, of the Smithsonian Institution, notes that these colored prints, "now stand as her most original contribution... adding a new chapter to the history of graphic arts...technically, as color prints, they have never been surpassed".{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=124–126}} Also in 1891, Chicago businesswoman [[Bertha Palmer]] approached Cassatt to paint a 12' × 58' mural about "Modern Woman" for the Women's Building for the [[World's Columbian Exposition]] to be held in 1893. Cassatt completed the project over the next two years while living in France with her mother. The mural was designed as a [[triptych]]. The central theme was titled ''Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science''. The left panel was ''Young Girls Pursuing Fame'' and the right panel ''Arts, Music, Dancing''. The mural displays a community of women apart from their relation to men, as accomplished persons in their own right. Palmer considered Cassatt to be an American treasure and could think of no one better to paint a mural at an exposition that was to do so much to focus the world's attention on the status of women.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lunardini | first = Christine A. | title = What every American Should Know About Women's History | location = Holbrook, Mass. | publisher = Adams Media Corporation | year = 1997 | page = 129 | isbn = 978-1-55850-687-9}}</ref> Unfortunately the mural was lost when the building was torn down after the exhibit. Cassatt made several studies and paintings on themes similar to those in the mural around that time, however, so it is possible to see her development of those ideas and images.<ref>[http://members.cox.net/academia/cassatt.html Mary Cassatt's Lost Mural and Other Exhibits at the 1893 Exposition] by K. L. Nichols</ref> Cassatt also exhibited other paintings in the Exposition. [[File:Under the horse chestnut tree2.jpg|left|thumb|upright|''Under the Horse Chestnut Tree'' by Mary Cassatt, 1898, drypoint and aquatint print]] As the new century arrived, Cassatt served as an advisor to several major art collectors and stipulated that they eventually donate their purchases to American art museums. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, France awarded her the [[Légion d'honneur]] in 1904. Although instrumental in advising American collectors, recognition of her art came more slowly in the United States. Even among her family members back in America, she received little recognition and was totally overshadowed by her famous brother.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=182}} Mary Cassatt's brother, [[Alexander Cassatt]], (president of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] from 1899 until his death) died in 1906. She was shaken, as they had been close, but she continued to be very productive in the years leading up to 1910.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=281}} An increasing sentimentality is apparent in her work of the 1900s; her work was popular with the public and the critics, but she was no longer breaking new ground, and her Impressionist colleagues who once provided stimulation and criticism were dying off. She was hostile to such new developments in art as [[post-Impressionism]], [[Fauvism]] and [[Cubism]].{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=284}} A trip to [[Egypt]] in 1910 impressed Cassatt with the beauty of its ancient art, but was followed by a crisis of creativity; not only had the trip exhausted her, but she declared herself "crushed by the strength of this Art", saying, "I fought against it but it conquered, it is surely the greatest Art the past has left us ... how are my feeble hands to ever paint the effect on me."{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=291}} Diagnosed with [[diabetes]], [[rheumatism]], [[neuralgia]], and [[cataract]]s in 1911, she did not slow down, but after 1914 she was forced to stop painting as she became almost blind. Nonetheless, she took up the cause of [[women's suffrage]], and in 1915, she showed eighteen works in an exhibition supporting the movement. She died on June 14, 1926 at Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, and was buried in the family vault at [[Le Mesnil-Théribus]], France. ==Legacy== *Mary Cassatt inspired many Canadian women artists who were members of the [[Beaver Hall Group]]. *The [[List of Liberty ships: M|SS ''Mary Cassatt'']] was a World War II [[Liberty ship]], launched May 16, 1943. *A quartet of young [[Juilliard]] string musicians formed the all-female [[Cassatt Quartet]] in 1985, named in honor of the painter. In 2009, the award-winning group recorded String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (Cassatt String Quartet) by composer [[Dan Welcher]]; the 3rd quartet on the album was written inspired by the work of Mary Cassatt as well. *In 1966, Cassatt's painting ''The Boating Party'' was reproduced on a US postage stamp. Later she was honored by the [[United States Postal Service]] with a 23¢ [[Great Americans series]] [[postage stamp]]. *On May 22, 2009, she was honored by a [[Google]] logo in recognition of her birthday.<ref>[http://www.google.com/doodles/mary-cassatts-birthday "Mary Cassatt's Birthday"]. ''[[Google]]''. Retrieved April 9, 2012.</ref> *Cassatt's paintings have sold for as much as [[United States dollar|$]]2.9 million. ==Gallery== <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="3"> File:Cassatt Mary Portrait of Madame Sisley 1873.jpg|''Portrait of Madame Sisley'' (1873) File:Mary Cassatt The Reader 1877.jpg|''The Reader'' (1877), [[Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art]] File:Mary_Cassatt_In_the_box.jpg|''In the Box'' (1879) File:Cassatt Mary At the Theater 1879.jpg|''Lydia Leaning on Her Arms, Seated in Loge'' (1879) File:Miss Mary Ellison.JPG|''Miss Mary Ellison'' (1880) File:Cassatt Mary Children on the Beach 1884 .jpg|''Children on the Beach'' (1884) File:Child in a Straw Hat by Mary Cassatt c1886.jpg|''Child in Straw Hat'' (1886) File:Cassatt Mary Maternite 1890.jpg|''Maternité'' (1890) File:Cassatt Mary Nurse Reading to a Little Girl 1895.jpg|''Nurse Reading to a Little Girl'' (1895) File:Cassatt, Mary Pink Sash 1898.jpg|''The Pink Sash'' (1898) File:Madame Meerson and Her Daughter 1899 Mary Cassatt.jpeg|''Madame Meerson and Her Daughter'' (1899), [[Reynolda House Museum of American Art]] File:Cassatt Mary Jules Being Dried by His Mother 1900.jpg|''Jules Being Dried by His Mother'' (1900) File:Margot in Blue Cassatt.jpg|''Margot in Blue'' (1903), [[Walters Art Museum]] File:Cassatt Mary Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun 1914.jpg|''Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun'' (1914) File:Mary Cassatt Mother and Child.jpg|''Mother and Child'' (1914), [[High Museum of Art]] </gallery> ==See also== {{Portal|Biography|United States|Visual arts}} * [[History of painting]] * [[Western painting]] * [[Women artists]] {{-}} ==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist|2}} ===Bibliography=== *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Mathews | first = Nancy Mowll | authorlink = Nancy Mowll Mathews | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Mary Cassatt: A Life | url = | publisher = [[Villard (imprint)|Villard Books]] | location = New York | year = 1994 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn= 978-0-394-58497-3 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Mathews | first = Nancy Mowll | authorlink = | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Mary Cassatt: A Life | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=EtXCGXMSE9oC&printsec=frontcover | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | location = New Haven | year = 1998 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-0-585-36794-1 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = McKown | first = Robin | authorlink = | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = The World of Mary Cassatt | url = | publisher = [[Thomas Y. Crowell Co.]] | location = New York | year = 1972 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-0-690-90274-7 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Kloss | first = William | authorlink = | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Treasures from the National Museum of American Art | url = | publisher = [[Smithsonian American Art Museum|National Museum of American Art]] | location = Washington | year = 1985 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-0-87474-594-8 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last1 = Pollock | first1 = Griselda | last2 = Florence | first2 = Penny | authorlink = Griselda Pollock | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Looking back to the Future | url = | publisher = G+B Arts International | location = Amsterdam | year = 2001 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-90-5701-122-1 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Pollock | first = Griselda | authorlink = | editor1-first = Elizabeth | editor1-last = Milroy | editor2-first = Marianne | editor2-last = Doezema | title = Reading American Art | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=N1pOh9GEO1EC&printsec=frontcover | location = New Haven | year = 1998 | chapter = Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children | chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=N1pOh9GEO1EC&pg=PA280 | isbn = 978-0-300-07348-5 }} *{{White - America's most noteworthy railroaders}}(mentions family relationship to Alexander Cassatt) ==External links== {{commons}} * [http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggcassattptg/ggcassattptg-main1.html/ Mary Cassatt at the National Gallery of Art] * [http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=108 Mary Cassatt Gallery at MuseumSyndicate.com] * [http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cassatt/ Mary Cassatt at the WebMuseum.] * [http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/Search/collectionresultsitemdetail.aspx?OID=45120 Mary Cassatt at the Cincinnati Art Museum] * [http://www.hillstead.org/collection/paint_cassatt.html Mary Cassatt at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut] * [http://smarthistory.org/blog/14/mary-cassatts-the-cup-of-tea/ smARThistory: ''The Cup of Tea''] *[http://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/collection/?q=Mary+Cassatt&f=1&navigation=0&x=0&y=0 Mary Cassatt prints at the National Art History Institut (INHA) in Paris] {{fr icon}} *''[http://library.metmuseum.org/record=b1698309~S1 The Havemeyer Family Papers relating to Art Collecting]'' Mary Cassatt was a close personal friend of Louisine Havemeyer and acted as an art collecting advisor and buying agent for the Havemeyer family. This archival collection includes original letters from Mary Cassatt to Louisine and Henry Osborne Havemeyer. * [http://www.lesamisdemarycassatt.fr/ The foundation in France for the memory of Mary Cassatt] * {fr} [http://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/collection/?r=Top%2Fdl_category%2Festampes%2Festampes+de+mary+cassatt+%281844-1926%29&navigation=0&dq=%23reset Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA - Estampes de Mary Cassatt] {{National Women's Hall of Fame}} {{Impressionists|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control|VIAF=2478969}} {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME = Cassatt, Mary | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American artist | DATE OF BIRTH = May 22, 1844 | PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[United States]] | DATE OF DEATH = June 14, 1926 | PLACE OF DEATH = Château de Beaufresne, near [[Paris]], [[France]] }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassatt, Mary}} [[Category:1844 births]] [[Category:1926 deaths]] [[Category:American Impressionist painters]] [[Category:American expatriates in France]] [[Category:American printmakers]] [[Category:American painters]] [[Category:Artists from Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Impressionist painters]] [[Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur]] [[Category:American women artists]] [[Category:Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni]] [[Category:Blind people from the United States]] [[Category:Alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts]] [[Category:Women painters]] {{Link GA|it}} [[ar:ماري كاسات]] [[an:Mary Cassatt]] [[be:Мэры Касат]] [[bs:Mary Cassatt]] [[br:Mary Cassatt]] [[ca:Mary Cassatt]] [[cs:Mary Cassatt]] [[da:Mary Cassatt]] [[de:Mary Cassatt]] [[es:Mary Cassatt]] [[fa:مری کست]] [[fr:Mary Cassatt]] [[gl:Mary Cassatt]] [[ko:메리 카사트]] [[hy:Մերի Կեսսետ]] [[hi:मैरी कसाट]] [[hr:Mary Cassatt]] [[io:Mary Cassatt]] [[id:Mary Cassatt]] [[it:Mary Cassatt]] [[he:מארי קאסאט]] [[hu:Mary Cassatt]] [[mt:Mary Cassatt]] [[mr:मेरी कसाट]] [[nl:Mary Cassatt]] [[ja:メアリー・カサット]] [[no:Mary Cassatt]] [[nn:Mary Cassatt]] [[oc:Mary Cassatt]] [[pcd:Mary Cassatt]] [[pl:Mary Cassatt]] [[pt:Mary Cassatt]] [[ro:Mary Cassatt]] [[ru:Кассат, Мэри]] [[simple:Mary Cassatt]] [[sr:Мери Касат]] [[sh:Mary Cassatt]] [[fi:Mary Cassatt]] [[sv:Mary Cassatt]] [[ta:மேரி கசாட்]] [[te:మేరీ కస్సట్]] [[th:แมรี คาซาท]] [[tr:Mary Cassatt]] [[uk:Мері Кассат]] [[vi:Mary Cassatt]] [[war:Mary Cassatt]] [[zh:玛丽·卡萨特]]'
new_wikitext)'{{Infobox artist | bgcolour = #6495ED | name = Mary Cassatt | image = Mary Cassatt-Selfportrait.jpg | imagesize = 225px | caption = ''Self-portrait'' by Mary Cassatt, c. 1878, [[gouache]] on paper, 23⅝ × 16 3/16 in., <br/>[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York City|New York]] | birth_name = Mary Stevenson Cassatt | birth_date = {{birth date|1844|5|22}} | birth_place = [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[United States]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1926|6|14|1844|5|22}} | death_place = Château de Beaufresne, near [[Paris]], [[France]] | nationality = [[United States|American]] | field = [[Painting]] | training = [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]],<br/> [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], [[Charles Joshua Chaplin|Charles Chaplin]], [[Thomas Couture]] | movement = [[Impressionism]] | works = }} '''Mary Stevenson Cassatt''' ({{IPAc-en|icon|k|ə|ˈ|s|æ|t}}; May 22, 1844{{spaced ndash}}June 14, 1926) was an [[United States|American]] painter and [[printmaker]]. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended [[Edgar Degas]] and later exhibited among the [[Impressionists]]. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. She was described by [[Gustave Geffroy]] in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside [[Marie Bracquemond]] and [[Berthe Morisot]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Geffroy | first = Gustave | title = Histoire de l'Impressionnisme | journal = La Vie artistique | pages = 268 | year = 1894 }}.</ref> ==Early life== Cassatt was born in [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]], [[Pennsylvania]], which is now part of [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]].<ref name="Columbus Museum of Art p.36">{{cite book |last = Roberts |first = Norma J. |title = The American Collections |publisher = [[Columbus Museum of Art]] |year = 1988 | location = Columbus |isbn= 978-0-918881-20-5|page = 36}}</ref> She was born into an [[Upper middle class|upper-middle-class]] family:{{sfn|Pollock|1998|p=280}} her father, Robert Simpson Cassat (later Cassatt), was a successful stockbroker and land speculator, and her mother, Katherine Kelso Johnston, came from a banking family. Katherine Cassatt, educated and very well read, had a profound influence on her daughter.{{sfn|Pollock|1998|pp=281–82}} To that effect, Cassatt's lifelong friend [[Louisine Havemeyer]] wrote in her memoirs: "Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Mary Cassatt's mother would know at once that it was from her and her alone that [Mary] inherited her ability."<ref>Havemeyer, Louisine (1961). ''Sixteen to sixty: memoirs of a collector''. New York: Priv. Print. for the family of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 272.</ref> The ancestral name had been Cossart.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=3}} Cassatt was a distant cousin of artist [[Robert Henri]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Perlman |first=Bennard B. |title=Robert Henri: His Life and Art |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=GAOCYTyD2_cC&pg=PA1 | page=1 |location=New York | publisher= Dover Publications |year=1991 | isbn= 978-0-486-26722-7}}</ref> Cassatt was one of seven children, of which two died in infancy. Her family moved eastward, first to [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], then to the [[Philadelphia]] area, where she began schooling at age 6. Cassatt grew up in an environment that viewed travel as integral to education; she spent 5 years in Europe and visited many of the capitals, including London, Paris, and Berlin. While abroad she learned German and French and had her first lessons in drawing and music.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=11}} Her first exposure to French artists [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]], [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]], [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot|Corot]], and [[Gustave Courbet|Courbet]] was likely at the Paris World’s Fair of 1855. Also exhibited at the exhibition were [[Edgar Degas|Degas]] and [[Camille Pissarro|Pissarro]], both of whom would be her future colleagues and mentors.{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=10–12}} Though her family objected to her becoming a professional artist, Cassatt began studying painting at the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]] in Philadelphia at the early age of 15.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=15}} Part of her parents' concern may have been Cassatt's exposure to feminist ideas and the bohemian behavior of some of the male students. Although about 20 percent of the students were female, most viewed art as a socially valuable skill; few of them were determined, as Cassatt was, to make art their career.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=18}} She continued her studies from 1861 through 1865, the duration of the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Columbus Museum of Art p.36" /> Among her fellow students was [[Thomas Eakins]], later the controversial director of the Academy. Impatient with the slow pace of instruction and the patronizing attitude of the male students and teachers, she decided to study the [[Old Master|old masters]] on her own. She later said, "There was no teaching" at the Academy. Female students could not use live models (until somewhat later) and the principal training was primarily drawing from casts.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=16}} Cassatt decided to end her studies (at that time, no degree was granted). After overcoming her father's objections, she moved to Paris in 1866, with her mother and family friends acting as chaperones.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=29}} Since women could not yet attend the [[École des Beaux-Arts]], she applied to study privately with masters from the school{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=31}} and was accepted to study with [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], a highly regarded teacher known for his hyper-realistic technique and his depiction of exotic subjects. A few months later Gérôme would also accept Eakins as a student.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=31}} Cassatt augmented her artistic training with daily copying in the [[Louvre]] (she obtained the required permit, which was necessary to control the "copyists", usually low-paid women, who daily filled the museum to paint copies for sale). The museum also served as a social meeting place for Frenchmen and American female students, who like Cassatt, were not allowed to attend cafes where the avant-garde socialized. In this manner, fellow artist and friend [[Elizabeth Jane Gardner]] met and married famed academic painter [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]].{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=32}} [[Image:Mary Cassatt 002.jpg|''The Boating Party'' 1893-94|thumb|right|275px|''The Boating Party'' by Mary Cassatt, 1893–94, oil on canvas, 35½ × 46 in., [[National Gallery of Art, Washington]]]] Toward the end of 1866, she joined a painting class taught by [[Charles Joshua Chaplin|Charles Chaplin]], a noted genre artist. In 1868, Cassatt also studied with artist [[Thomas Couture]], whose subjects were mostly romantic and urban.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=54}} On trips to the countryside, the students drew from life, particularly the peasants going about their daily activities. In 1868 one of her paintings, ''A Mandoline Player'', was accepted for the first time by the selection jury for the [[Paris Salon]]. This work is in the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] style of [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot|Corot]] and Couture,{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=47}} and is one of only two paintings from the first decade of her career that can be documented today.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=54}} The French art scene was in a process of change, as radical artists such as Courbet and [[Édouard Manet|Manet]] tried to break away from accepted Academic tradition and the Impressionists were in their formative years. Cassatt's friend Eliza Haldeman wrote home that artists "are leaving the Academy style and each seeking a new way, consequently just now everything is Chaos".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=32}} Cassatt, on the other hand, would continue to work in the traditional manner, submitting works to the Salon for over ten years, with increasing frustration. Returning to the United States in the late summer of 1870—as the [[Franco-Prussian War]] was starting—Cassatt lived with her family in Altoona. Her father continued to resist her chosen vocation, and paid for her basic needs, but not her art supplies.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=75}} She placed two of her paintings in a New York gallery and found many admirers but no purchasers. She was also dismayed at the lack of paintings to study while staying at her summer residence. Cassatt even considered giving up art, as she was determined to make an independent living. She wrote in a letter of July, 1871, "I have given up my studio & torn up my father's portrait, & have not touched a brush for six weeks nor ever will again until I see some prospect of getting back to Europe. I am very anxious to go out west next fall & get some employment, but I have not yet decided where."{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=74}} She traveled to Chicago to try her luck but lost some of her early paintings in the [[Great Chicago Fire]] of 1871.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=36}} Shortly afterward, her work attracted the attention of the [[Archbishop]] of Pittsburgh, who commissioned her to paint two copies of paintings by [[Correggio]] in [[Parma]], [[Italy]], advancing her enough money to cover her travel expenses and part of her stay. In her excitement she wrote, "O how wild I am to get to work, my fingers farely itch & my eyes water to see a fine picture again".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=76}} With Emily Sartain, a fellow artist from a well-regarded artistic family from Philadelphia, Cassatt set out for Europe again. ==Impressionism== [[Image:Cassat CupOfTea.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Tea'' by Mary Cassatt, 1880, oil on canvas, 25½ × 36¼ in., [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]]] Within months of her return to Europe in the autumn of 1871, Cassatt's prospects had brightened. Her painting ''Two Women Throwing Flowers During Carnival'' was well received in the Salon of 1872, and was purchased. She attracted much favorable notice in Parma and was supported and encouraged by the art community there: "All Parma is talking of Miss Cassatt and her picture, and everyone is anxious to know her".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=79}} After completing her commission for the archbishop, Cassatt traveled to [[Madrid]] and [[Seville]], where she painted a group of paintings of Spanish subjects, including ''Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla'' (1873, in the [[National Museum of American Art]], [[Smithsonian Institution]]). In 1874, she made the decision to take up residence in France. She was joined by her sister Lydia who shared an apartment with her. Cassatt continued to express criticism of the politics of the Salon and the conventional taste that prevailed there. She was blunt in her comments, as reported by Sartain, who wrote: "she is entirely too slashing, snubs all modern art, disdains the Salon pictures of [[Alexandre Cabanel|Cabanel]], [[Léon Bonnat|Bonnat]], all the names we are used to revere".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=87}} Cassatt saw that works by female artists were often dismissed with contempt unless the artist had a friend or protector on the jury, and she would not flirt with jurors to curry favor.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|pp=104–105}} Her cynicism grew when one of the two pictures she submitted in 1875 was refused by the jury, only to be accepted the following year after she darkened the background. She had quarrels with Sartain, who thought Cassatt too outspoken and self-centered, and eventually they parted. Out of her distress and self-criticism, Cassatt decided that she needed to move away from genre paintings and onto more fashionable subjects, in order to attract portrait commissions from American socialites abroad, but that attempt bore little fruit at first.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=96}} [[Image:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 051.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Edgar Degas]], ''Portrait of Miss Cassatt, Seated, Holding Cards'', c. 1876–1878, oil on canvas]] In 1877, both her entries were rejected, and for the first time in seven years she had no works in the Salon.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=100}} At this low point in her career she was invited by Edgar Degas to show her works with the [[Impressionism|Impressionists]], a group that had begun their own series of independent exhibitions in 1874 with much attendant notoriety. The Impressionists (also known as the "Independents" or "Intransigents") had no formal manifesto and varied considerably in subject matter and technique. They tended to prefer open air painting and the application of vibrant color in separate strokes with little pre-mixing, which allows the eye to merge the results in an “impressionistic” manner. The Impressionists had been receiving the wrath of the critics for several years. Henry Bacon, a friend of the Cassatts, thought that the Impressionists were so radical that they were "afflicted with some hitherto unknown disease of the eye".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=107}} They already had one female member, artist [[Berthe Morisot]], who became Cassatt’s friend and colleague. Cassatt admired Degas, whose [[pastel]]s had made a powerful impression on her when she encountered them in an art dealer's window in 1875. "I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could<!-- OK here: don't correct it--> of his art," she later recalled. "It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it."{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=114}} She accepted Degas' invitation with enthusiasm, and began preparing paintings for the next Impressionist show, planned for 1878, which (after a postponement because of the World's Fair) took place on April 10, 1879. She felt comfortable with the Impressionists and joined their cause enthusiastically, declaring: "we are carrying on a despairing fight & need all our forces".{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=118}} Unable to attend cafes with them without attracting unfavorable attention, she met with them privately and at exhibitions. She now hoped for commercial success selling paintings to the sophisticated Parisians who preferred the avant-garde. Her style had gained a new spontaneity during the intervening two years. Previously a studio-bound artist, she had adopted the practice of carrying a sketchbook with her while out-of-doors or at the theater, and recording the scenes she saw.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=125}} [[Image:Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) - Summertime (c1894).jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Summertime'' by Mary Cassatt, c. 1894, oil on canvas, [[Hammer Museum|Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center]]]] In 1877, Cassatt was joined in Paris by her father and mother, who returned with her sister Lydia. Mary valued their companionship, as neither she nor Lydia had married. Mary had decided early in life that marriage would be incompatible with her career. Lydia, who was frequently painted by her sister, suffered from recurrent bouts of illness, and her death in 1882 left Cassatt temporarily unable to work.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=163}} Cassatt's father insisted that her studio and supplies be covered by her sales, which were still meager. Afraid of having to paint "[[potboiler]]s" to make ends meet, Cassatt applied herself to produce some quality paintings for the next Impressionist exhibition. Three of her most accomplished works from 1878 were ''Portrait of the Artist'' (self-portrait), ''Little Girl in a Blue Armchair'', and ''Reading Le Figaro'' (portrait of her mother). Degas had considerable influence on Cassatt. She became extremely proficient in the use of [[pastel]]s, eventually creating many of her most important works in this medium. Degas also introduced her to [[etching]], of which he was a recognized master. The two worked side-by-side for a while, and her [[drawing|draftsmanship]] gained considerable strength under his tutelage. He depicted her in a series of etchings recording their trips to the Louvre. She had strong feelings for him but learned not to expect too much from his fickle and temperamental nature. The sophisticated and well-dressed Degas, then forty-five, was a welcome dinner guest at the Cassatt residence.{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=63–64}} The Impressionist exhibit of 1879 was the most successful to date, despite the absence of [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|Renoir]], [[Alfred Sisley|Sisley]], [[Édouard Manet|Manet]] and [[Paul Cézanne|Cézanne]], who were attempting once again to gain recognition at the Salon. Through the efforts of [[Gustave Caillebotte]], who organized and underwrote the show, the group made a profit and sold many works, although the criticism continued as harsh as ever. The ''Revue des Deux Mondes'' wrote, "M. Degas and Mlle. Cassatt are, nevertheless, the only artists who distinguish themselves... and who offer some attraction and some excuse in the pretentious show of window dressing and infantile daubing".{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=73}} Cassatt displayed eleven works, including ''Lydia in a Loge, Wearing a Pearl Necklace, (Woman in a Loge)''. Although critics claimed that Cassatt's colors were too bright and that her portraits were too accurate to be flattering to the subjects, her work was not savaged as was [[Claude Monet|Monet]]'s, whose circumstances were the most desperate of all the Impressionists at that time. She used her share of the profits to purchase a work by Degas and one by Monet.{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=72–73}} She exhibited in the Impressionist Exhibitions that followed in 1880 and 1881, and she remained an active member of the Impressionist circle until 1886. In 1886, Cassatt provided two paintings for the first Impressionist exhibition in the United States, organized by art dealer [[Paul Durand-Ruel]]. Her friend [[Louisine Elder]] married [[H.O. Havemeyer|Harry Havemeyer]] in 1883, and with Cassatt as advisor, the couple began collecting the Impressionists on a grand scale. Much of their vast collection is now in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York City.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|p=167}} She also made several portraits of family members during that period, of which ''Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and His Son Robert Kelso'' (1885) is one of her best regarded. Cassatt's style then evolved, and she moved away from Impressionism to a simpler, more straightforward approach. She began to exhibit her works in New York galleries as well. After 1886, Cassatt no longer identified herself with any art movement and experimented with a variety of techniques. ==Later life== [[File:The Child's Bath by Mary Cassatt 1893.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Child's Bath]] (The Bath)'' by Mary Cassatt, 1893, oil on canvas, 39½ × 26 in., [[Art Institute of Chicago]]<ref>[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/Impressionism/Cassatt "The Child's Bath"]. ''The Art Institute of Chicago''. Retrieved April 9, 2012.</ref>]] Cassatt's popular reputation is based on an extensive series of rigorously drawn, tenderly observed, yet largely unsentimental paintings and prints on the theme of the mother and child. The earliest dated work on this subject is the [[drypoint]] ''Gardner Held by His Mother'' (an impression inscribed "Jan/88" is in the [[New York Public Library]]),{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=182 and note on p. 346}} although she had painted a few earlier works on the theme. Some of these works depict her own relatives, friends, or clients, although in her later years she generally used professional models in compositions that are often reminiscent of [[Italian Renaissance]] depictions of the [[Madonna and Child]]. After 1900, she concentrated almost exclusively on mother-and-child subjects.{{sfn|Kloss|1985|p=106}} The 1890s were Cassatt's busiest and most creative time. She had matured considerably and became more diplomatic and less blunt in her opinions. She also became a role model for young American artists who sought her advice. Among them was [[Lucy A. Bacon]], whom Cassatt introduced to [[Camille Pissarro]]. Though the Impressionist group disbanded, Cassatt still had contact with some of the members, including Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=155}} In 1891, she exhibited a series of highly original colored drypoint and [[aquatint]] prints, including ''Woman Bathing'' and ''The Coiffure'', inspired by the Japanese masters shown in Paris the year before. (See [[Japonism]]) Cassatt was attracted to the simplicity and clarity of Japanese design, and the skillful use of blocks of color. In her interpretation, she used primarily light, delicate pastel colors and avoided black (a "forbidden" color among the Impressionists). A. Breeskin, of the Smithsonian Institution, notes that these colored prints, "now stand as her most original contribution... adding a new chapter to the history of graphic arts...technically, as color prints, they have never been surpassed".{{sfn|McKown|1972|pp=124–126}} Also in 1891, Chicago businesswoman [[Bertha Palmer]] approached Cassatt to paint a 12' × 58' mural about "Modern Woman" for the Women's Building for the [[World's Columbian Exposition]] to be held in 1893. Cassatt completed the project over the next two years while living in France with her mother. The mural was designed as a [[triptych]]. The central theme was titled ''Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science''. The left panel was ''Young Girls Pursuing Fame'' and the right panel ''Arts, Music, Dancing''. The mural displays a community of women apart from their relation to men, as accomplished persons in their own right. Palmer considered Cassatt to be an American treasure and could think of no one better to paint a mural at an exposition that was to do so much to focus the world's attention on the status of women.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lunardini | first = Christine A. | title = What every American Should Know About Women's History | location = Holbrook, Mass. | publisher = Adams Media Corporation | year = 1997 | page = 129 | isbn = 978-1-55850-687-9}}</ref> Unfortunately the mural was lost when the building was torn down after the exhibit. Cassatt made several studies and paintings on themes similar to those in the mural around that time, however, so it is possible to see her development of those ideas and images.<ref>[http://members.cox.net/academia/cassatt.html Mary Cassatt's Lost Mural and Other Exhibits at the 1893 Exposition] by K. L. Nichols</ref> Cassatt also exhibited other paintings in the Exposition. [[File:Under the horse chestnut tree2.jpg|left|thumb|upright|''Under the Horse Chestnut Tree'' by Mary Cassatt, 1898, drypoint and aquatint print]] As the new century arrived, Cassatt served as an advisor to several major art collectors and stipulated that they eventually donate their purchases to American art museums. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, France awarded her the [[Légion d'honneur]] in 1904. Although instrumental in advising American collectors, recognition of her art came more slowly in the United States. Even among her family members back in America, she received little recognition and was totally overshadowed by her famous brother.{{sfn|McKown|1972|p=182}} Mary Cassatt's brother, [[Alexander Cassatt]], (president of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] from 1899 until his death) died in 1906. She was shaken, as they had been close, but she continued to be very productive in the years leading up to 1910.{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=281}} An increasing sentimentality is apparent in her work of the 1900s; her work was popular with the public and the critics, but she was no longer breaking new ground, and her Impressionist colleagues who once provided stimulation and criticism were dying off. She was hostile to such new developments in art as [[post-Impressionism]], [[Fauvism]] and [[Cubism]].{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=284}} A trip to [[Egypt]] in 1910 impressed Cassatt with the beauty of its ancient art, but was followed by a crisis of creativity; not only had the trip exhausted her, but she declared herself "crushed by the strength of this Art", saying, "I fought against it but it conquered, it is surely the greatest Art the past has left us ... how are my feeble hands to ever paint the effect on me."{{sfn|Mathews|1998|p=291}} Diagnosed with [[diabetes]], [[rheumatism]], [[neuralgia]], and [[cataract]]s in 1911, she did not slow down, but after 1914 she was forced to stop painting as she became almost blind. Nonetheless, she took up the cause of [[women's suffrage]], and in 1915, she showed eighteen works in an exhibition supporting the movement. She died on June 14, 1926 at Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, and was buried in the family vault at [[Le Mesnil-Théribus]], France. ==Legacy== *Mary Cassatt inspired many Canadian women artists who were members of the [[Beaver Hall Group]]. *The [[List of Liberty ships: M|SS ''Mary Cassatt'']] was a World War II [[Liberty ship]], launched May 16, 1943. *A quartet of young [[Juilliard]] string musicians formed the all-female [[Cassatt Quartet]] in 1985, named in honor of the painter. In 2009, the award-winning group recorded String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (Cassatt String Quartet) by composer [[Dan Welcher]]; the 3rd quartet on the album was written inspired by the work of Mary Cassatt as well. *In 1966, Cassatt's painting ''The Boating Party'' was reproduced on a US postage stamp. Later she was honored by the [[United States Postal Service]] with a 23¢ [[Great Americans series]] [[postage stamp]]. *On May 22, 2009, she was honored by a [[Google]] logo in recognition of her birthday.<ref>[http://www.google.com/doodles/mary-cassatts-birthday "Mary Cassatt's Birthday"]. ''[[Google]]''. Retrieved April 9, 2012.</ref> *Cassatt's paintings have sold for as much as [[United States dollar|$]]2.9 million. ==Gallery== <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="3"> File:Cassatt Mary Portrait of Madame Sisley 1873.jpg|''Portrait of Madame Sisley'' (1873) File:Mary Cassatt The Reader 1877.jpg|''The Reader'' (1877), [[Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art]] File:Mary_Cassatt_In_the_box.jpg|''In the Box'' (1879) File:Cassatt Mary At the Theater 1879.jpg|''Lydia Leaning on Her Arms, Seated in Loge'' (1879) File:Miss Mary Ellison.JPG|''Miss Mary Ellison'' (1880) File:Cassatt Mary Children on the Beach 1884 .jpg|''Children on the Beach'' (1884) File:Child in a Straw Hat by Mary Cassatt c1886.jpg|''Child in Straw Hat'' (1886) File:Cassatt Mary Maternite 1890.jpg|''Maternité'' (1890) File:Cassatt Mary Nurse Reading to a Little Girl 1895.jpg|''Nurse Reading to a Little Girl'' (1895) File:Cassatt, Mary Pink Sash 1898.jpg|''The Pink Sash'' (1898) File:Madame Meerson and Her Daughter 1899 Mary Cassatt.jpeg|''Madame Meerson and Her Daughter'' (1899), [[Reynolda House Museum of American Art]] File:Cassatt Mary Jules Being Dried by His Mother 1900.jpg|''Jules Being Dried by His Mother'' (1900) File:Margot in Blue Cassatt.jpg|''Margot in Blue'' (1903), [[Walters Art Museum]] File:Cassatt Mary Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun 1914.jpg|''Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun'' (1914) File:Mary Cassatt Mother and Child.jpg|''Mother and Child'' (1914), [[High Museum of Art]] </gallery> ==See also== {{Portal|Biography|United States|Visual arts}} * [[History of painting]] * [[Western painting]] * [[Women artists]] {{-}} ==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist|2}} ===Bibliography=== *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Mathews | first = Nancy Mowll | authorlink = Nancy Mowll Mathews | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Mary Cassatt: A Life | url = | publisher = [[Villard (imprint)|Villard Books]] | location = New York | year = 1994 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn= 978-0-394-58497-3 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Mathews | first = Nancy Mowll | authorlink = | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Mary Cassatt: A Life | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=EtXCGXMSE9oC&printsec=frontcover | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | location = New Haven | year = 1998 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-0-585-36794-1 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = McKown | first = Robin | authorlink = | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = The World of Mary Cassatt | url = | publisher = [[Thomas Y. Crowell Co.]] | location = New York | year = 1972 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-0-690-90274-7 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Kloss | first = William | authorlink = | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Treasures from the National Museum of American Art | url = | publisher = [[Smithsonian American Art Museum|National Museum of American Art]] | location = Washington | year = 1985 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-0-87474-594-8 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last1 = Pollock | first1 = Griselda | last2 = Florence | first2 = Penny | authorlink = Griselda Pollock | editor-first = | editor-last = | title = Looking back to the Future | url = | publisher = G+B Arts International | location = Amsterdam | year = 2001 | chapter = | chapterurl = | isbn = 978-90-5701-122-1 }} *{{cite book | ref=harv | last = Pollock | first = Griselda | authorlink = | editor1-first = Elizabeth | editor1-last = Milroy | editor2-first = Marianne | editor2-last = Doezema | title = Reading American Art | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=N1pOh9GEO1EC&printsec=frontcover | location = New Haven | year = 1998 | chapter = Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children | chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=N1pOh9GEO1EC&pg=PA280 | isbn = 978-0-300-07348-5 }} *{{White - America's most noteworthy railroaders}}(mentions family relationship to Alexander Cassatt) ==External links== {{commons}} * [http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggcassattptg/ggcassattptg-main1.html/ Mary Cassatt at the National Gallery of Art] * [http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=108 Mary Cassatt Gallery at MuseumSyndicate.com] * [http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cassatt/ Mary Cassatt at the WebMuseum.] * [http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/Search/collectionresultsitemdetail.aspx?OID=45120 Mary Cassatt at the Cincinnati Art Museum] * [http://www.hillstead.org/collection/paint_cassatt.html Mary Cassatt at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut] * [http://smarthistory.org/blog/14/mary-cassatts-the-cup-of-tea/ smARThistory: ''The Cup of Tea''] *[http://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/collection/?q=Mary+Cassatt&f=1&navigation=0&x=0&y=0 Mary Cassatt prints at the National Art History Institut (INHA) in Paris] {{fr icon}} *''[http://library.metmuseum.org/record=b1698309~S1 The Havemeyer Family Papers relating to Art Collecting]'' Mary Cassatt was a close personal friend of Louisine Havemeyer and acted as an art collecting advisor and buying agent for the Havemeyer family. This archival collection includes original letters from Mary Cassatt to Louisine and Henry Osborne Havemeyer. * [http://www.lesamisdemarycassatt.fr/ The foundation in France for the memory of Mary Cassatt] * {fr} [http://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/collection/?r=Top%2Fdl_category%2Festampes%2Festampes+de+mary+cassatt+%281844-1926%29&navigation=0&dq=%23reset Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA - Estampes de Mary Cassatt] {{National Women's Hall of Fame}} {{Impressionists|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control|VIAF=2478969}} {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME = Cassatt, Mary | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American artist | DATE OF BIRTH = May 22, 1844 | PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[United States]] | DATE OF DEATH = June 14, 1926 | PLACE OF DEATH = Château de Beaufresne, near [[Paris]], [[France]] }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassatt, Mary}} [[Category:1844 births]] [[Category:1926 deaths]] [[Category:American Impressionist painters]] [[Category:American expatriates in France]] [[Category:American printmakers]] [[Category:American painters]] [[Category:Artists from Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Impressionist painters]] [[Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur]] [[Category:American women artists]] [[Category:Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni]] [[Category:Blind people from the United States]] [[Category:Alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts]] [[Category:Women painters]] {{Link GA|it}} [[ar:ماري كاسات]] [[an:Mary Cassatt]] [[be:Мэры Касат]] [[bs:Mary Cassatt]] [[br:Mary Cassatt]] [[ca:Mary Cassatt]] [[cs:Mary Cassatt]] [[da:Mary Cassatt]] [[de:Mary Cassatt]] [[es:Mary Cassatt]] [[fa:مری کست]] [[fr:Mary Cassatt]] [[gl:Mary Cassatt]] [[ko:메리 카사트]] [[hy:Մերի Կեսսետ]] [[hi:मैरी कसाट]] [[hr:Mary Cassatt]] [[io:Mary Cassatt]] [[id:Mary Cassatt]] [[it:Mary Cassatt]] [[he:מארי קאסאט]] [[hu:Mary Cassatt]] [[mt:Mary Cassatt]] [[mr:मेरी कसाट]] [[nl:Mary Cassatt]] [[ja:メアリー・カサット]] [[no:Mary Cassatt]] [[nn:Mary Cassatt]] [[oc:Mary Cassatt]] [[pcd:Mary Cassatt]] [[pl:Mary Cassatt]] [[pnb:میری کساٹ]] [[pt:Mary Cassatt]] [[ro:Mary Cassatt]] [[ru:Кассат, Мэри]] [[simple:Mary Cassatt]] [[sr:Мери Касат]] [[sh:Mary Cassatt]] [[fi:Mary Cassatt]] [[sv:Mary Cassatt]] [[ta:மேரி கசாட்]] [[te:మేరీ కస్సట్]] [[th:แมรี คาซาท]] [[tr:Mary Cassatt]] [[uk:Мері Кассат]] [[vi:Mary Cassatt]] [[war:Mary Cassatt]] [[zh:玛丽·卡萨特]]'