Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was the sole American artist to display with the Impressionists in Paris. Her preferred subjects were women's portraits and depictions of mothers and children captured in ordinary moments. Cassatt's unique style and insightful portrayal of women's emotions established her as a prominent modern artist of the late 19th century.

Biography of Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born into an upper-middle-class family. The Cassatts resided in France and Germany from 1851 to 1855, providing young Mary with an early immersion in European arts and culture. During this time, she also acquired fluency in French and German, skills that would greatly benefit her later career abroad.

Although little is documented about her childhood, it is speculated that she may have attended the 1855 Paris World's Fair, where she would have encountered the works of renowned French artists such as Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Eugène Delacroix, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

In 1860, Cassatt embarked on two years of studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. By 1865, she requested permission from her parents to further her artistic education overseas. Despite their initial reservations, they supported her, and she relocated to Paris to study under Jean-Léon Gérôme. 

Following a brief return to the United States from 1870 to 1871, during which Cassatt faced frustration due to limited artistic resources and opportunities, she returned to Paris. In the early 1870s, she also journeyed to Spain, Italy, and Holland, immersing herself in the works of artists like Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens, and Antonio da Correggio.

By 1874, Cassatt had established herself in a studio in Paris. Three years later, her parents and sister Lydia joined her in France. Her family often posed as subjects for her late 1870s and 1880s works, which depicted contemporary women in various settings such as theaters, operas, gardens, and parlors. 

Cassatt gained recognition with a painting accepted and lauded at the Salon of 1872, continuing to exhibit at subsequent Salons. However, after facing rejection at the Salon in 1875 and 1877, she grew disenchanted with the political and conservative tastes of Paris' official art scene. 

When Edgar Degas invited Cassatt to join the Impressionists in 1877, she enthusiastically accepted. Already an admirer of Degas, Cassatt formed a close friendship with him, often working alongside him and seeking each other's advice and encouragement. She also mingled with other artists, including Camille Pissarro, who acted as a mentor, and Berthe Morisot, a fellow female artist known for her domestic scenes.

Cassatt began exhibiting her work with the Impressionists in Paris from 1879 onward. In 1886, she was featured in the first major exhibition of Impressionist art in the United States, hosted at the Durand-Ruel galleries in New York. Her focus remained on scenes of women in domestic settings, capturing fleeting moments of contemporary life with an Impressionist flair. She expanded her artistic repertoire beyond oil painting and drawing, venturing into pastels and printmaking. Like many Impressionists of her time, Cassatt integrated visual elements from Japanese art, which had gained popularity in Paris after its display at the 1878 Exposition Universelle.

Cassatt shared the Impressionists' belief that traditional academic art was outdated, and she was committed to exploring new ways of depicting modern life. By the 1880s, she had become renowned for her tender portrayals of mothers and children. These works, along with her other depictions of women, resonated with the public perhaps because they reflected a societal idealization of women's domestic roles. This was a time when many women were beginning to advocate for voting rights, dress reform, education, and social equality. Despite this societal context, Cassatt's portrayals of upper-middle-class and upper-class women were nuanced, containing deeper meanings beneath the light brushwork and vibrant colors of her Impressionist style.

Despite her intimate portrayals of domestic life, Cassatt never married or had children herself, choosing instead to devote her entire life to her art. She shared a progressive mindset with figures like Bertha Honore Palmer, a businesswoman and philanthropist who invited Cassatt to create a mural for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Palmer believed that "women should be someone and not something," a sentiment that resonated with Cassatt's dedication to her artistic profession and her refusal to conform to traditional gender roles.

After 1900, Cassatt's health began to decline, along with her eyesight. Despite these challenges, she maintained close friendships with fellow artists and prominent figures in the art world, ranging from Pierre-Auguste Renoir to American collectors Harry and Lousine Havemeyer. In the late 1890s, during the tumultuous Dreyfus affair, Cassatt and Degas experienced a rift in their friendship. Cassatt, along with Pissarro and Monet, supported Dreyfus, while Degas took the opposing stance. However, they later reconciled.

In 1904, Cassatt received recognition from the French government for her cultural contributions and was awarded the Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur. Her final visit to the United States occurred in 1908, a trip marked by personal losses. Her cherished sister, Lydia, passed away in 1882 after a prolonged illness, and her brother Alexander, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, died in 1906.

By 1914, Cassatt's declining eyesight prevented her from continuing her artistic work, although she persisted in exhibiting her art. During World War I, she primarily resided in Grasse before returning to her country home, a chateau in Le Mesnil-Theribus, located fifty miles northwest of Paris. Mary Cassatt passed away in 1926.

Mary Cassatt's Art Style

Cassatt's artistry blended the light color palette and fluid brushwork of Impressionism with compositions influenced by Japanese art and European Old Masters. Throughout her career, she worked across various media, showcasing her versatility and contributing to her remarkable professional success during an era when few women were recognized as serious artists.

Cassatt's paintings often focused on domestic scenes, reflecting the world she herself was confined to as a respectable woman, rather than the more public spaces her male counterparts freely explored. Some critics dismissed her subject matter as inherently "feminine," but many acknowledged her substantial technical prowess and keen psychological insight.

Despite any gendered criticisms, Cassatt's astute business sense and her network of friendships and professional connections with artists, dealers, and collectors on both sides of the Atlantic made her a central figure in the turn-of-the-century art world. She played a pivotal role in shaping the American taste for Impressionist art, contributing significantly to its appreciation and recognition in her native United States.