Art History
Mary Cassatt: The Impressionist Painter
Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later presented among the Impressionists. She often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. Although she painted for the majority of her life, the paintings she painted later in life are her most well known pieces: These paintings documented the private lives of women and often children. Cassatt was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania on May 22, 1844. Her father was a successful stockbroker and land speculator and her mother came from a banking family. Mary was one of seven children in her family, two of her siblings died in infancy. Mary traveled many places as a young girl, including parts of Europe. Her family moved from Allegheny City, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and then to the Philadelphia area when she was six years old. When she traveled to Europe, she took art classes and found a passion for painting and drawing. Her family objected her thoughts of becoming a professional artist and ridiculed her for even considering painting as a career. Mary’s parents may have been concerned that she may develop the feminist thinking that many female artists had at that time. However, at the age of fifteen, Mary decided to start taking classes at a Pennsylvania school for art. She was only one of a few female students enrolled in the class and unlike her classmates; she was the only female in class who considered making painting a career. Even with her passion and resilient beliefs of becoming an artist, her teachers and male classmates belittled her and female students could not use live models for practicing their craft. She then started teaching herself because of the lack of teaching and goodwill and did not achieve a degree in art. In 1866, Cassatt moved to Paris to further her skills and exposure. She studied privately with professors from an art school since women could not attend their college. During the winter of 1866, she ultimately was able to join a painting class taught by Charles Chaplin. Distinct from her classmates, Cassatt stuck to traditional painting while many left the academy style and tried to find new and interesting painting techniques. For more than ten years, Cassatt became frustrated that she was stuck painting images for a Salon in France. In the summer of 1870, she finally returned to the United States and lived with her family in Altoona. Her father was still against her painting, but agreed to help her not with art supplies, but with living necessities. Mary became discouraged when she had the opportunity to place works in a gallery where she had many admirers, but did not make any purchases. Since there were no prospects of selling any of her paintings, she decided to give up painting and try to find a job to support herself. It wasn’t until the archbishop of Pittsburg saw her paintings and asked to purchase two that she decided to move back to Europe in the fall of 1871 and start painting again. Cassatt was doing well all though out Europe until 1877 when both of her entries into a gallery were rejected. During this time when she was not getting any prospects of buyers, she was invited to show her work with the group known as the Impressionists. The Impressionists had started making their own paintings in 1874 and were known as the Independents and used many different colors in their paintings. Joining the impressionists, Cassatt kept painting and more successful two years later when she sold paintings and made a good profit at an Impressionist gallery.

Bibliography "Mary Cassatt by Robyn." Yukon Education Student Network - Home. N.p., n.d Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/wes/webquests_themes/artists/artist_qu est/famous_artists_reports/robyn.html>. Talks about her life, accomplishments, and paintings. "Mary Cassatt: Mothers and Children." Princeton University WordPress Service | News and information about our WordPress hosting environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart19/>. Mary Cassatt was a feminist and a great one during her time. Her paintings of children and mothers may look domestic, but it was to reclaim the right of motherhood. "NGA - Mary Cassatt: Selected Paintings." National Gallery of Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggcassattptg/ggcassattptg- main1.html>. Summarizes Mary Cassatt’s paintings, where she grew up and what she did. Also it talks about certain paintings and what she painted. Mathews, Nancy Mowll. "MARY CASSATT AND THE "MODERN MADONNA" OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ." (1980): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. Talks about how Cassatt used the “modern Madonna” and how she painted.

Cassatt, Mary, Judith A. Barter, and Erica E. Hirshler. Mary Cassatt, modern woman. New York: Art Institute of Chicago in association with H.N. Abrams, 1998. Print. Explains where Cassatt painted and also how she painted many paintings of mother and child. Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Mary Cassatt. Mary Cassatt. New York: Abrams in association with National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1987. Print. Talks about her paintings and her famous paintings. Child and mother paintings are talked about. Getlein, Frank. Mary Cassatt: paintings and prints. New York: Abbeville Press, 1980. Print. Cassatt has many famous paintings and they talk in depth about them and about her as a person. Cassatt, Mary, Marc Rosen, Susan Pinsky, and Warren Adelson. Mary Cassatt: prints and drawings from the artist's studio. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. Print. Has pictures of her paintings and names of them. How Cassatt drew children in her paintings slightly discussed. Cassatt, Mary, and Nancy Mowll Mathews. Cassatt and her circle: selected letters. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984. Print.
Explains Cassatt’s life and how she lived and what she did.

Thomas, Greg M. Impressionist Children: Childhood, Family, and Modern
Identity in French Art. New Haven: Yale UP, 2010. Print.
This talks about children in impressionist paintings and how they were seen in childhood and family.