Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt prints bring tender, everyday moments into your home: a mother bathing her child, a woman pouring tea, a little girl sprawled in a blue armchair. Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker who lived most of her life in France and exhibited with the Impressionists at the invitation of Edgar Degas. Our collection of fine art prints covers her mothers and children, women at the opera and at home, garden scenes, portraits and colour prints.

About Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on 22 May 1844 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh, into a well-off family; her brother Alexander later became president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. As a child she spent several years in Europe and learned French and German. Against her family's wishes she began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at fifteen, where Thomas Eakins was a fellow student, but found the teaching slow and in 1866 moved to Paris. Women could not attend the École des Beaux-Arts, so she studied privately with Jean-Léon Gérôme and others and copied in the Louvre. In 1868 her Mandolin Player was accepted at the Paris Salon.

After travels in Italy and Spain she settled in Paris in 1874. Degas saw her work, became a close friend and mentor, and invited her to show with the Impressionists. She exhibited at their fourth exhibition in 1879 and in later shows. After her sister Lydia died in 1882, mothers and young children became her central subject. In 1890 an exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris inspired a celebrated set of colour prints, made with drypoint and aquatint.

Cassatt also advised American collectors, especially her friends Louisine and Henry Havemeyer, and helped bring Impressionism to the United States. France awarded her the Legion of Honour in 1904. Failing eyesight forced her to stop painting after 1914, and she died at the Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, on 14 June 1926.

Style and Subjects

Cassatt painted the private lives of women: reading, sewing, drinking tea, dressing, at the opera and, above all, caring for children. Her mothers and babies are shown with warmth but without sweetness, in natural, unposed attitudes, with close-up views and loose, light brushwork. Like Degas, she looked for movement, light and modern design.

Her prints, inspired by Japanese woodblocks, are simpler: clear outlines, flat areas of soft colour and patterned fabrics. The collection includes paintings, pastels, drawings and prints, including many studies of models such as Margot, Sara and Simone with their bonnets, hats and pets.

Famous Works

• Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878). One of her most accomplished works of 1878, shown at the 1879 Impressionist exhibition.
• In the Loge (1878), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A young woman watching the opera while a man in another box stares at her.
• Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge (1879), Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her sister Lydia in a theatre box, shown at the 1879 Impressionist exhibition.
• The Cup of Tea (1880), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A quiet afternoon-tea scene, another of her 1879 exhibition pictures.
• A Woman and a Girl Driving (1881), Philadelphia Museum of Art. A woman and a young girl out in a carriage, from her years with the Impressionists.
• The Child's Bath (1893), Art Institute of Chicago. A mother bathing her child, one of her best-loved images.
• The Boating Party (1893), National Gallery of Art, Washington. A mother and child out on the water, reproduced on a US postage stamp in 1966.

Decorating with Cassatt Prints

Cassatt's mothers and children are a natural choice for a nursery, a child's room or a family living room. Prints like The Child's Bath or Young Mother Sewing have soft colours and a gentle mood that suit pale walls and natural textures, and they make lovely gifts for new parents.

For a living room or reading corner, choose her women at leisure, such as The Cup of Tea or Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly. The opera pictures, like In the Loge, add elegance to a hallway or dressing room.

FAQ

What art movement was Mary Cassatt part of?

Cassatt was an Impressionist. She exhibited with the group from 1879 at Degas's invitation, and the critic Gustave Geffroy named her one of the three great ladies of Impressionism, with Berthe Morisot and Marie Bracquemond.

What is Mary Cassatt's most famous painting?

The Child's Bath (1893), in the Art Institute of Chicago, is among her best-known works. Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) and The Boating Party (1893) are also famous.

Why did Mary Cassatt paint so many mothers and children?

After the death of her sister Lydia in 1882, she turned to portraits of young children, often with their mothers, and the theme became her main subject. She was unmarried and had no children of her own.

Where can I see Mary Cassatt's paintings?

Major works are in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Related Artists

• Edgar Degas: close friend and mentor who invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists
• Berthe Morisot: fellow Impressionist and friend, one of the "three great ladies" of the movement
• Camille Pissarro: Impressionist and one of her most loyal friends, with whom she exhibited in 1891
• Marie Bracquemond: the third of Geffroy's "great ladies" of Impressionism
• Thomas Eakins: fellow student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts