About Everything

Written on July 13, 2010 – 3:05 am | by admin |

Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an 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.
Cassatt was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, which is now part of Pittsburgh. She was born into favorable circumstances: 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. The ancestral name had been Cossart. Cassatt was a distant cousin of artist Robert Henri. 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. Her first exposure to French artists Ingres, Delacroix, Corot, and Courbet was likely at the Paris World’s Fair of 1855. Also exhibited at the exhibition were Degas and Pissarro, both of whom would be her future colleagues and mentors.
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. Since women could not yet attend the École des Beaux-Arts, she applied to study privately with masters from the school 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.
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.
She died on June 14, 1926 at Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, and was buried in the family vault at Le Mesnil-Théribus, France.

Self portrait, 1878
Gouache on paper
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

On the balcony during carnival, 1873
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, USA ▼

Toreador, 1873
Oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago, USA ▼

Spanish dancer wearing a lace mantilla, 1873
Oil on canvas
The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American Art
Washington D.C., USA ▼

The young bride, 1875
Oil on canvas
Montclair Art Museum
Montclair, New York, USA ▼

Young woman reading, 1876
Oil on canvas
The Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, USA ▼

Mary Ellison embroidering, 1877
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA ▼

Little girl in a blue armchair, 1878
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Reading Le Figaro. (Portrait of the artist’s Mother), 1878
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼

The cup of tea. (Portrait of Lydia), 1879
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

At the theater (Woman in a loge), 1880
Pastel on paper
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, USA ▼

At the Opera, 1879
Oil on canvas
The Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, USA ▼

Lydia crocheting in the garden at Marly, 1880
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

Lydia at a tapestry loom, 1881
Oil on canvas
Flint Institute of Arts
Flint, Michigan, USA ▼

Profile portrait of Lydia Cassatt (the artist’s sister), 1880
Oil on canvas
Musée du Petite Palais
Paris, France ▼

Miss Mary Ellison, 1880
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Vase of lilacs (Lilacs in a window), 1880
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼

Self portrait, 1880
Watercolor on paper, The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American Art
Washington D.C., USA ▼

Sewing woman, 1882
Oil on canvas
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼

On the meadow, 1880
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼

Woman and child driving, 1881
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, USA ▼

The loge, 1882
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Susan on a balcony holding a dog, 1882
Oil on canvas
The Corcoran Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Lady at the tea table, 1883
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and his son Robert, 1885
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, USA ▼

Girl arranging her hair, 1886
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Child in a straw hat, 1886
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the artist’s Mother (Katherine Kelso Johnston Cassatt), 1889
Oil on canvas
The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
San Francisco CA, USA ▼

In the omnibus, 1891
Drypoint and aquatint
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Hélène de Septeuil, 1890
Pastel on paper
The William Benton Museum of Art
University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA ▼

The letter, 1891
Drypoint and aquatint
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa, Canada ▼

The child’s caress, 1890
Oil on canvas
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu ▼

Baby’s first caress, 1890
Pastel on paper
New Britain Museum of American Art
New Britain, CT, USA ▼

Woman with a red zinnia, 1891
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

The banjo lesson, 1893
Drypoint and aquatint
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

The bath, 1893
Oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago, USA ▼

The boating party, 1894
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼

Summertime, 1894
Oil on canvas
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center
Los Angeles, USA ▼

Nurse reading to a little girl, 1895
Pastel on paper
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

Mother playing with her child, 1897
Pastel on paper
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

Maternal kiss, 1897
Pastel on paper
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia PA, USA ▼

Mother combing her child’s hair, 1891
Pastel and gouache on tan paper
The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA ▼

Sara in a green bonnet, 1901
Oil on canvas
The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American Art
Washington D.C., USA ▼

The caress, 1902
Oil on canvas
The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American Art
Washington D.C., USA ▼

Young mother sewing, 1902
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, USA ▼

Sleepy baby, 1910
Pastel on paper
Dallas Museum of Art, USA ▼

Two children at the seashore
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery of Art
Washington DC, USA ▼