Mary
Cassatt (1844-1926), Mary Cassatt was an American born painter who
lived and worked in France as an important member of the impressionist
group. Cassatt was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. In 1861 she
began to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
in Philadelphia, but proclaimed her independence by leaving in 1866
to paint in France. By 1872, after studying in the major museums of
Europe, her style began to mature, and she settled in Paris. There
her work attracted the attention of the French painter Edgar Degas,
who invited her to exhibit with his fellow impressionists. One of
the works she showed was The Cup of Tea (1879, Metropolitan Museum,
New York City), a portrait of her sister Lydia in luminescent pinks.
Beginning in 1882 Cassatt's style took a new turn. Influenced, like
Degas, by Japanese woodcuts, she began to emphasize line over mass
and experimented with asymmetric composition—as in The Boating
Party (1893, National Gallery, Washington, D.C.)—and informal,
natural gestures and positions. Portrayals of mothers and children
in intimate relationship and domestic settings became her theme. Her
portraits were not commissioned; instead, she used members of her
own family as subjects. France awarded Cassatt the Legion of Honor
in 1904; although she had been instrumental in advising the first
American collectors of impressionist works, recognition came more
slowly in the United States. With loss of sight she was no longer
able to paint after 1914.
Mary
Cassatt Art Prints
Children playing on the beach
Cassatt,
Mary
16 in. x 20 in.
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this Giclee Print
