LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mary Cassatt
built 187 days ago
Mary Cassatt [W]as the only American to exhibit with the original Impressionist group. Like her friend Degas, she was a highly skilled draftsman who preferred unposed, asymmetrical compositions. In The Child's Bath, the circular shapes of the figures’ heads, the basin, and the pitcher, as well as the striped pattern of the woman’s dress animate the portrait of a woman bathing a child. Cassatt’s unusual vantage point (from above) as well as her choice of a female subject show her interest in Japanese woodblock prints, which had become extremely popular in France at the time.
Source:
Mary Cassatt wants to be a great Impressionist painter. It is the late 1870s and she has moved from the U.S. to Paris, France to pursue her art. She is preparing for an important exhibition when her brother and his rambunctious family unexpectedly arrive for a visit. "Mary Cassatt: American Impressionist" is a fictionalized account of that visit in which, after several false starts, Cassatt establishes a lasting relationship with her nephew and nieces. Mary Cassatt became one of the most important U.S. painters of the late 1800s.
Source:
In 1891, Mary Cassatt had her first one-woman show at the gallery of Durand-Ruel. The year after, she was invited by Mrs. Potter Palmer to paint the south tympanum in the Women's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago - a commission she gladly accepted, as she had always been a champion of the feminist cause. Her chosen theme was "Modern Woman", which she illustrated with a three-part composition. In the center she showed "Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge and Science", on the left-hand panel she showed "Young Girls Pursuing Fame", and on the right she depicted the arts of music and dancing. The colors are cheerful, since it was felt that, as the painting was done for a national fete, the mood should be jubilant.
Source:
The artist Mary Cassatt would have made a poor career as a diplomat. She never held back with her opinion. Fortunately her wealth made her independent from what others thought about her. Especially when she grew older, her frankness could sometimes become insulting.
Source:
Mary Cassatt, one of the two women and the only American to show with the Impressionists, was born in Pittsburgh. She was the daughter of a millionaire and spent her childhood in Europe with her family. When the Cassatt's returned to live in Philadelphia, Mary studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art until she was twenty-three. Then, against her father's wishes, she left for Europe to study further and visit Italy, Spain, and Belgium before going to Paris where, as she said, the sight of a pastel by Degas changed her life. It was through Degas, who was more her sponsor than her teacher, that she delighted to be relieved of the arbitrary standards established for acceptance at the official Salons. Cassatt scrupulously separated her social life from her artistic one and was in some ways aloof from the relaxed artistic atmosphere around her.
Source:
It was not until 1898 that Mary Cassatt visited America for the first time since she had settled in Paris in 1874, in order to see her family and friends. She had delayed her return home until this point partly because she was afraid of sea travel, and ... because her ailing parents had needed her to stay with them in Paris. But after her mother died in 1898, there were no close family links to keep her in Europe, and she was free to visit her brothers Gardner and Alexander and their families in Philadelphia and Boston. While in America, Mary Cassatt decided to concentrate on pastels alone, as they were more portable than oils, and therefore more suitable for the journey home. Most of the subjects she painted there were women and children. Her attention was rather diverted from her own work when she returned to Europe; she made an extended visit to Italy with the Havemyers to advise on the purchase of paintings, many of which can now be seen in American museums.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Mary Cassatt