American painter joined the impressionist group of artists in Paris, was known for her exquisite drypoints and is considered one of the most important American artists of her time.

Born as Mary Stevenson Cassatt in 1844 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania in a well-to-do family she enrolled in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the age of 16. At the academy, majority of the of students and faculty were female and the female students could not use live models, so the main training was drawing from casts. Mary, frustrated with the school’s program, the ineffective methods of teaching, and the ‘patronizing attitude of the male students’ – she decided to end her studies and upon overcoming her father’s objections left for Paris in 1866 despite along with her mother and and family friends acting as Chaperones.

Mary Cassatt, Self-Portrait, c. 1880, gouache and watercolor over graphite on paper, 32.7cm x 24.6cm, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC. NPG.76.33 — Mary Cassatt, *Self-Portrait*, c. 1880, gouache and watercolor over graphite on paper, 32.7cm x 24.6cm, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC. NPG.76.33

She continued to study and paint and in 1868, one of her portraits (The Mandolin Player, image below) was selected at the prestigious Paris Salon. While some her friends and fellow artists were trying to break from the traditions and the Academy, Mary continued to work in the traditional way for about submitting her works with increasing frustration before moving with the Impressionists.

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, Mary returned to live with her parents. Her father refused to pay for anything connected to her art. Mary tried selling her paintings in New York and while there were many admirers, there were no buyers. Facing so much objection from her father and the society at large, Mary even considered giving up art but was determined to find a way to make an independent living with her art and aching to go back to Europe. Finally, her work attracted attention from the Archbishop of Pittsburg who commissioned Mary to paint two copies by Coreggio in Parma, Italy – which gave her enough money to travel back to Europe and cover all her expenses. Her, and her fellow artist – Emily Sartain – sailed to Europe again.

Back in Europe, her art attracted much notice and after completing the commission for the archbishop, Mary went to studying trips to Rome, Parma, Madrid, and Antwerp, where she studied old masters with great discipline, she finally settled in Paris in 1874 with her sister.

There, Mary continued to to work and submit her art to the Salon and while some of the pieces were accepted, Mary was very critical of the practices at the salon and with her work getting rejected more and more, she was approached by Edgar Degas, with whom she had become firm friends, to show her works with the Impressionists. She switched to the new salon “I was delighted to accept….I rejected conventional art. I began to live.”

Mary’s father did not want to cover any expenses and demanded that all the expenses for her studio and supplies be covered by sales. Since her earnings were very low, Mary tried her hardest to produce amazing paintings for the Impressionist exhibition and in 1878 she created some of her most accomplished works: Portrait of the Artist, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, and Reading Le Figaro (portrait of her mother).

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Degas had a lot of influence on Mary and she became very good in the use of pastels, and he also taught Mary about copper engravings. According to the book, 50 Women Artists You Should Know – “Cassatt loved scenes set in the glittering world of theater and opera lit by artificial light. The response in the press to the 12 works she exhibited in the 1879 impressions exhibition was considerable. Not only oils such as woman in a loge were praised, but also the pastel pictures, where pastels were mixed with metallic oils to depict the brilliant atmosphere of nightlife. Her delight in experimentation is evident. In the 1870’s Mary also did much as a practical intermediary between the impressionists and the American public, particularly helping Degas and Monet to sell in the USA.”

Cassatt’s style evolved as she experimented with various techniques like etching, drypoint, and aquatints. She was also extremely impressed with the Japanese printing techniques and clarity and the simplicity of the design. “In particular, she did a series of ten color drypoint prints (now known as the ten) produced in a highly elaborate technique.” These series were an important component of her solo exhibition at Durand-Ruel in 1893.

Around the same time in 1894, Cassatt and Degas broke off their friendship. There are many speculations on the relationship between Cassatt and Degas and Robin Oliveira in her book “I Always Loved You” imagines that there was more to the friendship that meets the eye.

Cassatt turned to a subject that other contemporary female artists had also taken up – the life of middle-class women, often mother and child – and painted many pictures on the subject. She also became very influential in the 1890’s, serving as an advisor to major American art collectors in and was a role model to many American artists who flocked to her for advice, among them Lucy A. Bacon. France awarded her the Legion d’honneur in 1904 but soon the tragedy struck.

After her brother’s death in 1906, Cassatt was very shaken but she continued to be productive. However, in 1910 Cassatt went to Egypt and was amazed by the beauty but the trip had left her very frail. Her visual problems were getting worse and she was diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatism, and cataracts in 1911. She did not let that stop her until, sadly she had to stop painting in 1915 when her sight began to fail.

This had a huge impact on her and even tried cataract operation on her right eye in 1917. However, this wasn’t helping. According to the letter she wrote in 1919, she wrote, ”My sight is getting dimmer every day. I find writing tires my eyes. I look forward with horror to utter darkness and then an operation which may end in as great failure as the last one.” When they operated on the left eye in 1919 – that operation was not successful and Cassat could not read nor paint anymore.

She died on June 14, 1926 at Chateau de Beaufresne, near Paris.

Her contribution and legacy to art history, American art, and women artists are immense and she will remain one of the greatest American women of art.

Sources:

Top Artists You Should Know: Mary Cassatt