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Cassatt's independence and choice to not marry as a "New Women" could also be seen as a reaction to the strict institutionalized misogamy of the art world at the time, as marriage could have been seen as unserious and incompatible with any serious artistic career that she was fighting to be recognized for . |
Although Cassatt did not explicitly make political statements about women's rights in her work, her artistic portrayal of women was consistently done with dignity and the suggestion of a deeper, meaningful inner life. She also focused a large amount of her work on the mother and child and enjoyed highlighting this relationship, painting them with warmth and attention. Unlike the other Impressionist of the time that often focused on street scenes and landscapes, Cassatt's focus leaned towards a women centric gaze, motivated to paint the everyday life of women and focusing on domestic labors associated with the home. This was unusual at the time as while women were sometimes the focus of Impressionist pieces, it was limited to a passive object for the viewer. Cassatt notably made the women she painted active observers with real engagement in the environments she created, reflecting on her own time spent engaging with these women in their private intimate spaces, something that male artist would not have had the social ability to do at that time. This disconnect from what the two different genders were allowed to observe as an artist did not go unnoticed by Cassatt and she notably enjoyed observing the complexities of gender relations in her work. The piece "In the Loge"(1878) is a good example of this, as it depicts a young women watching the opera while a male admirer gawks at her from afar, the viewer is then also included into the voyeuristic objectification of the unaware model exposing the social dynamics of the time. |
By choosing to depict more humble feminine environments Cassatt effectively raised scenes of women, their labor, friendships, and personal life to be celebrated as high art. She was often critiqued for this preference and her art was considered too feminine as a repercussion. Cassatt objected to being stereotyped as a "woman artist", she supported women's suffrage, and in 1915 showed eighteen works in an exhibition supporting the movement organised by Louisine Havemeyer, a committed and active feminist. The exhibition brought her into conflict with her sister-in-law Eugenie Carter Cassatt, who was anti-suffrage and who boycotted the show along with Philadelphia society in general. Cassatt responded by selling off her work that was otherwise destined for her heirs. In particular The Boating Party, thought to have been inspired by the birth of Eugenie's daughter Ellen Mary, was bought by the National Gallery, Washington, D.C. |
Relationship with Degas |
Cassatt and Degas had a long period of collaboration. The two painters had studios close together, Cassatt at 19, rue Laval (48.8808°N 2.3384°E / 48.8808; 2.3384), Degas at 4, rue Frochot (48.8811°N 2.3377°E / 48.8811; 2.3377), less than a five-minute stroll apart, and Degas developed the habit of looking in at Cassatt's studio and offering her advice and helping her gain models. |
They had much in common: they shared similar tastes in art and literature, came from affluent backgrounds, had studied painting in Italy, and both were independent, never marrying. The degree of intimacy between them cannot be assessed now, as no letters survive, but it is unlikely they were in a relationship given their conservative social backgrounds and strong moral principles. Several of Vincent van Gogh's letters attest to Degas' sexual self-constraint. Degas introduced Cassatt to pastel and engraving, both of which Cassatt quickly mastered, while for her part Cassatt was instrumental in helping Degas sell his paintings and promoting his reputation in America. |
Both regarded themselves as figure painters, and the art historian George Shackelford suggests they were influenced by the art critic Louis Edmond Duranty's appeal in his pamphlet The New Painting for a revitalization in figure painting: "Let us take leave of the stylized human body, which is treated like a vase. What we need is the characteristic modern person in his clothes, in the midst of his social surroundings, at home or out in the street." |
After Cassatt's parents and sister Lydia joined Cassatt in Paris in 1877, Degas, Cassatt, and Lydia were often to be seen at the Louvre studying artworks together. Degas produced two prints, notable for their technical innovation, depicting Cassatt at the Louvre looking at artworks while Lydia reads a guidebook. These were destined for a prints journal planned by Degas (together with Camille Pissarro and others), which never came to fruition. Cassatt frequently posed for Degas, notably for his millinery series trying on hats. |
Around 1884, Degas made a portrait in oils of Cassatt, Mary Cassatt Seated, Holding Cards. A Self-Portrait (c. 1880) by Cassatt depicts her in the identical hat and dress, leading art historian Griselda Pollock to speculate they were executed in a joint painting session in the early years of their acquaintance. |
Cassatt and Degas worked most closely together in the fall and winter of 1879–80 when Cassatt was mastering her printmaking technique. Degas owned a small printing press, and by day she worked at his studio using his tools and press while in the evening she made studies for the etching plate the next day. However, in April 1880, Degas abruptly withdrew from the prints journal they had been collaborating on, and without his support the project folded. Degas' withdrawal piqued Cassatt who had worked hard at preparing a print, In the Opera Box, in a large edition of fifty impressions, no doubt destined for the journal. Although Cassatt's warm feelings for Degas were to last her entire life, she never again worked with him as closely as she had over the prints journal. Mathews notes that she ceased executing her theater scenes at this time. |
Degas was forthright in his views, as was Cassatt. They clashed over the Dreyfus affair (early in her career she had executed a portrait of the art collector Moyse Dreyfus, a relative of the court-martialled lieutenant at the center of the affair). Cassatt later expressed satisfaction at the irony of Lousine Havermeyer's 1915 joint exhibition of hers and Degas' work being held in aid of women's suffrage, equally capable of affectionately repeating Degas' antifemale comments as being estranged by them (when viewing her Two Women Picking Fruit for the first time, he had commented "No woman has the right to draw like that"). From the 1890s onwards their relationship took on a decidedly commercial aspect, as in general had Cassatt's other relations with the Impressionist circle; nevertheless they continued to visit each other until Degas died in 1917. |
Later life |
Cassatt's reputation is based on an extensive series of rigorously drawn and tenderly observed paintings and prints on the theme of the mother and child. The earliest dated work on this subject is the drypoint Gardner Held by His Mother (an impression inscribed "Jan/88" is in the New York Public Library), although she had painted a few earlier works on the theme. Some of these works depict her own relatives, friends, or clients, although in her later years she generally used professional models in compositions that are often reminiscent of Italian Renaissance depictions of the Madonna and Child. After 1900, she concentrated almost exclusively on mother-and-child subjects, such as Woman with a Sunflower. Viewers may be surprised to find that despite her focus on portraying mother-child pairs in her portraits, "Cassatt rejected the idea of becoming a wife and mother..." |
The 1890s were Cassatt's busiest and most creative period. She had matured considerably and became more diplomatic and less blunt in her opinions. She also became a role model for young American artists who sought her advice. Among them was Lucy A. Bacon, whom Cassatt introduced to Camille Pissarro. Though the Impressionist group disbanded, Cassatt still had contact with some of the members, including Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro. |
In 1891, she exhibited a series of highly original colored drypoint and aquatint prints, including Woman Bathing and The Coiffure, inspired by the Japanese masters shown in Paris the year before. (See Japonism) Cassatt was attracted to the simplicity and clarity of Japanese design, and the skillful use of blocks of color. In her interpretation, she used primarily light, delicate pastel colors and avoided black (a "forbidden" color among the Impressionists). Adelyn D. Breeskin, the author of two catalogue raisonnés of Cassatt's work, comments that these colored prints, "now stand as her most original contribution... adding a new chapter to the history of graphic arts...technically, as color prints, they have never been surpassed". |
Also in 1891, Chicago socialite Bertha Palmer approached Cassatt to paint a 12' × 58' mural about "Modern Woman" for the Women's Building for the World's Columbian Exposition to be held in 1893. Cassatt completed the project over the next two years while living in France with her mother. The mural was designed as a triptych. The central theme was titled Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science. The left panel was Young Girls Pursuing Fame and the right panel Arts, Music, Dancing. The mural displays a community of women apart from their relation to men, as accomplished persons in their own right. Palmer considered Cassatt to be an American treasure and could think of no one better to paint a mural at an exposition that was to do so much to focus the world's attention on the status of women. Following the world's fair, the mural came into Bertha Palmer's possession, where it remained as late as 1911, but it disappeared after Palmer's death in 1918. Cassatt made several studies and paintings on themes similar to those in the mural, so it is possible to see her development of those ideas and images. Cassatt also exhibited other paintings in the Exposition. |
As the new century arrived, Cassatt served as an advisor to several major art collectors and stipulated that they eventually donate their purchases to American art museums. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, France awarded her the Légion d'honneur in 1904. Although instrumental in advising American collectors, recognition of her art came more slowly in the United States. Even among her family members back in America, she received little recognition and was totally overshadowed by her famous brother. |
Mary Cassatt's brother, Alexander Cassatt, was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1899 until his death in 1906. She was shaken, as they had been close, but she continued to be very productive in the years leading up to 1910. An increasing sentimentality is apparent in her work of the 1900s; her work was popular with the public and the critics, but she was no longer breaking new ground, and her Impressionist colleagues who once provided stimulation and criticism were dying. She was hostile to such new developments in art as post-Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. Two of her works appeared in the Armory Show of 1913, both images of a mother and child. |
A trip to Egypt in 1910 impressed Cassatt with the beauty of its ancient art, but was followed by a crisis of creativity; not only had the trip exhausted her, but she declared herself "crushed by the strength of this Art", saying, "I fought against it but it conquered, it is surely the greatest Art the past has left us ... how are my feeble hands to ever paint the effect on me." Diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatism, neuralgia, and cataracts in 1911, she did not slow down, but after 1914 she was forced to stop painting as she became almost blind. In 1925 she was featured on 32nd Annual Exhibition of American Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum, together with Louise Woodroofe, Childe Hassam and Robert Henri. |
Cassatt died on June 14, 1926, at Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, and was buried in the family vault at Le Mesnil-Théribus, France. |
Legacy |
Mary Cassatt inspired many Canadian women artists who were members of the Beaver Hall Group. |
The SS Mary Cassatt was a World War II Liberty ship, launched May 16, 1943. |
A quartet of young Juilliard string musicians formed the all-female Cassatt Quartet in 1985, named in honor of the painter. In 2009, the award-winning group recorded String Quartets Nos. 1–3 (Cassatt String Quartet) by composer Dan Welcher; the 3rd quartet on the album was written inspired by the work of Mary Cassatt as well. |
In 1966, Cassatt's painting The Boating Party was reproduced on a US postage stamp. Later she was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 23-cent Great Americans series postage stamp. |
In 1973, Cassatt was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. |
In 2003, four of her paintings – Young Mother (1888), Children Playing on the Beach (1884), On a Balcony (1878/79) and Child in a Straw Hat (c. 1886) – were reproduced on the third issue in the American Treasures stamp series. |
On May 22, 2009, she was honored by a Google Doodle in recognition of her birthday. |
Cassatt's paintings have sold for as much as $4 million, the record price of $4,072,500 being set in 1996 at Christie's, New York, for In the Box. |
A public garden in the 12th arrondissement of Paris is named 'Jardin Mary Cassatt' in her memory. |
Gallery |
Film |
Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman. Director: Ali Ray, UK, 93 minutes, 2023 |
Notes |
References |
Bibliography |
Barter, Judith A. (October 15, 1998). Mary Cassatt, modern woman (1st ed.). Art Institute of Chicago in association with H.N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0810940895. |
Bullard, John E. (1972). Mary Cassatt: Oils and Pastels. Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-0569-0. LCCN 70-190524. |
Duranty, Louis Edmund (1990) [1876]. La Nouvelle peinture : À propos du groupe d'artistes qui expose dans les galeries Durand-Ruel, 1876 (in French). Paris: Echoppe. ISBN 978-2905657374. LCCN 21010788. |
Mathews, Nancy Mowll (1994). Mary Cassatt: A Life. New York: Villard Books. ISBN 978-0-394-58497-3. |
Mathews, Nancy Mowll (1998). Mary Cassatt: A Life. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-585-36794-1. |
McKown, Robin (1972). The World of Mary Cassatt. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. ISBN 978-0-690-90274-7. |
Kloss, William (1985). Treasures from the National Museum of American Art. Washington: National Museum of American Art. ISBN 978-0-87474-594-8. |
Pollock, Griselda; Florence, Penny (2001). Looking back to the Future. Amsterdam: G+B Arts International. ISBN 978-90-5701-122-1. |
Pollock, Griselda (1998). "Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children". In Milroy, Elizabeth; Doezema, Marianne (eds.). Reading American Art. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07348-5. |
Shackelford, George T.M. (1998). "Pas de Deux: Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas". In Barter, Judith A.. (ed.). Mary Cassatt, modern woman. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. pp. 109–43. ISBN 978-0810940895. LCCN 98007306. |
White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15. ISSN 0090-7847. JSTOR 43523785. OCLC 1785797.(mentions family relationship to Alexander Cassatt) |
Further reading |
Adelson, Warren; Bertalan, Sarah; Mathews, Nancy Mowll; Pinsky, Susan; Rosen, Marc (2008). Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Collection of Ambroise Vollard. New York: Adelson Galleries. ISBN 0-9815801-0-6. |
Barter, Judith A., et al. Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Art Institute of Chicago in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998. |
Breeskin, Adelyn D. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970. |
Conrads, Margaret C. American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1990. |
Pinsky, Susan; Rosen, Marc; Adelson, Warren; Cantor, Jay E.; Shapiro, Barbara Stern (2000). Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Artist's Studio. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08887-X. |
Pollock, Griselda. Mary Cassatt: Painter of Modern Women. World of Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998. |
Stratton, Suzanne L. Spain, Espagne, Spanien: Foreign Artists Discover Spain 1800–1900. Exhibition catalogue. New York: The Spanish Institute in association with the Equitable Gallery, 1993. |
Weinberg, H Barbara (2009). American impressionism and realism . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0300085699 (see index) |
External links |
Mary Cassatt Biography |
Mary Cassatt's Cat Paintings |
A finding aid to the Mary Cassatt letters, 1882–1926 at the Archives of Art, Smithsonian Institution |
Mary Cassatt at the National Gallery of Art |
Mary Cassatt Gallery at MuseumSyndicate.com Archived May 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine |
Mary Cassatt at the WebMuseum. |
Mary Cassatt at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut at the Wayback Machine (archived January 19, 2012) |
Mary Cassatt prints at the National Art History Institut (INHA) in Paris (in French) |
The Havemeyer Family Papers relating to Art Collecting Mary Cassatt was a close personal friend of Louisine Havemeyer and acted as an art collecting advisor and buying agent for the Havemeyer family. This archival collection includes original letters from Mary Cassatt to Louisine and Henry Osborne Havemeyer. |
The foundation in France for the remembrance of Mary Cassatt, located in the village of Mesnil-Theribus, where Cassatt lived and is buried |
Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA – Estampes de Mary Cassatt (in French) |
Mather Brown (baptized 11 October 1761 – 25 May 1831) was an American painter who was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was active in England. |
Early life |
Brown was the son of Gawen and Elizabeth (Byles) Brown, and descended from the Rev. Increase Mather on his mother's side. He was taught by his aunt and around 1773 (age 12) became a pupil of Gilbert Stuart. He arrived in London in 1781 to further his training in Benjamin West's studio, entered the Royal Academy schools in 1782 with plans to be a miniature painter, and began to exhibit a year later. |
Painting career |
In 1784, he painted two religious paintings for the church of St. Mary's-in-the-Strand, which led Brown to found a partnership with the painter Daniel Orme for the commercialization of these and other works through exhibition and the sale of engravings. Among these were large paintings of scenes from English history, as well as scenes from Shakespeare's plays. However, despite their success he began to concentrate on portraiture. His first successes were with American sitters, among others his patron John Adams and family in 1784–85; this painting is now in the Boston Athenæum. In the spring of 1786, he began painting the earliest known portrait of Thomas Jefferson, who was visiting London. He also painted Charles Bulfinch the same year. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1798. |
His 1788 full-length portrait of Prince Frederick Augustus in the uniform of Colonel of the Coldstream Guards led to appointment as History and Portrait Painter to the Prince, later the Duke of York and Albany. Other paintings include the Prince of Wales, later George IV (about 1789), Queen Charlotte, and Cornwallis. A self-portrait now belongs to the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. |
Later life and death |
A falling off patronage in the mid-1790s, and failure to be elected to the Royal Academy, led Brown to leave London in 1808 for Bath, Bristol, and Liverpool. He settled in Manchester, returning to London almost two decades later, in 1824, where, even after West's death, he continued to imitate his teacher's style of painting. Unable to secure commissions, Brown eventually died in poverty in London. |
Gallery |
References |
Sources |
Evans, Dorinda, Mather Brown: Early American Artist in England. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan, 1982. |
External links |
44 artworks by or after Mather Brown at the Art UK site |
Union List of Artist Names, Getty Vocabularies. ULAN Full Record Display for Mather Brown. Getty Vocabulary Program, Getty Research Institute. Los Angeles, California. |
Matteo di Giovanni (c. 1430 – 1495) was an Italian Renaissance artist from the Sienese School. |
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