Mary (Stevenson) Cassatt,1844-1926
Born to a wealthy merchant in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania on May 22, 1844, Mary Cassatt moved with her family to Paris when she was seven years old. The family returned to the United States a few years later, where Mary's artistic interest was soon unveiled. Against her parent's wishes, Mary decided to pursue a career in painting. She attended the Pennsylvania
...see more »Academy of Fine Arts and in 1866 Cassatt returned to Paris. She remained in Europe the rest of her life except for brief trips to the United States.
While in Paris, she became friends with Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and other Impressionist movement artists. She was the only American artist ever asked to show her work with this group of French impressionists - a rare compliment for a woman and for an American. Cassatt's association with the Impressionists went beyond friendship, as she often bought or influenced the sale of her friends' paintings to aid them financially. She also encouraged American collectors to purchase their art.
The influence of her Impressionist friends affected her style, which changed away from landscapes to people, especially children in everyday life. Her family was often used as models in her paintings. Cassatt is best known for her loving pictures of mothers and children. Her first public recognition as an artist was at the Chicago World's Fair in 1892 when she was asked to do a mural for a Woman's Building. She is also known for her printmaking, in which she experimented with several types including etching and aquatinting. Her favorite was a combination of aquatint and drypoint to create an intaglio technique. Cassatt's series of prints called 'The Ten' are considered outstanding Impressionist prints.
Mary Cassatt developed cataracts and had to give up painting in 1914. By the time she died at age 82 in Beaufreau, France on June 14,1926, she was blind. Cassatt's works of art can be found in museums and galleries in Europe and the United States, as well as in private collections and at retailers throughout the world. She is best known for her luminous portraits of women and children, such as 'The Morning Toilet' (1886) and 'Mother Feeding a Child' (1898). Other well-known works:
.1882 La Loge (National Gallery, Washington DC)
c.1892 La Toilette (Art Institute of Chicago)
1885 Lady at the Tea Table (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)
1908 Children Playing with a Cat
Women Admiring a Child (Detroit Institute of Fine Arts)« see less
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