Mary CASSATT (1844-1926) ✿

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American impressionist painter and printmaker. She was born in Pennsylvania, but lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists.

She boldly rebelled against the expectations set for her as a woman in the 19th century and travelled to Europe to find her independence as a professional artist. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis between mothers and children.

One of three female artists and the only American officially associated with Impressionism, Mary Cassatt was also an invaluable advisor, helping introduce European art to major collectors in the United States.

Cassatt strongly believed that painting needed to reflect modern life. Her modern woman is expertly rendered in the 1878 painting In the Loge, the first Impressionist work the artist exhibited in the United States.

Cassatt found ways to make changes to the restrictions pinned on women with her art. Throughout her career she had opposed to being stereotyped as a “woman artist” and being treated different from her male contemporaries. Even when she joined the Impressionist cause, she was still unable to attend cafes with them as it would have been looked down upon and was forced to only meet with them privately or at exhibitions. Her good friend Louisine Havemeyer was a staunch feminist and put on an exhibition to support the women’s suffrage movement. Cassat contributed 18 of her paintings for the cause.