Mary Cassatt

Sara Smiling

c. 1904

As one of just two females and the only American member of the original French Impressionist circle, Mary Cassatt stands out for her ability to capture scenes of domestic life in her paintings that her male contemporaries often did not encounter. 

Where other Impressionists indulged in sensual or sensational scenes of Parisian women, Cassatt’s unique perspective allowed her to create intimate, true-to-life renderings of her subjects. She pushed the radical art movement further to capture tender, fleeting instants shared by women as mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. Between 1860 and 1865, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and in December 1865, she sailed to Paris to study with the French painters Charles Chaplin and Jean-Léon Gérôme.

In 1868, Cassatt made her debut at the Paris Salon but returned to Philadelphia in 1870 with the onset of the Franco-Prussian war. However, by 1874 she had settled again in Paris, where she would live most of her adult life.

Just three years later, Cassatt met a man who would change the trajectory of her career forever: Edgar Degas. At his invitation, she joined a group that would become known as the Impressionists and, under his influence, developed a love for drawing and works on paper. Inspired by the "new painting," Cassatt abandoned her former academic manner and adopted Impressionism's high-keyed hues and modern subjects. 

Best remembered for her intimate portrayals of women, children and the mother-child relationship, Cassatt was a vital contributor to the Impressionist circle. Today, her works can be found in important collections the world over, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C.) and Musée d'Orsay (Paris).

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(Biography provided by M.S. Rau)