AWARENESS- Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

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Link for first image: https://www.theartstory.org/images20/new_design/bio/bio_cassatt_mary.jpg

Credit Line for second image: Mary Cassatt (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1844–1926 Le Mesnil-Théribus, Oise) Date:1890 Medium:Drypoint; second state of three Dimensions:plate: 6 1/4 x 9 3/16 in. (15.9 x 23.3 cm) sheet: 12 3/8 x 17 1/8 in. (31.4 x 43.5 cm) Classification:Prints Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 Accession Number:29.107.93

Credit Line for third image: Artist:Mary Cassatt (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1844–1926 Le Mesnil-Théribus, Oise) Date:1900 Culture:American Medium:Oil on canvas Dimensions:36 3/8 x 29 in. (92.4 x 73.7 cm) Classification:Paintings Credit Line:H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1929 Accession Number:29.100.48

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-Mary Cassatt was born in 1844 -Raised in Germany and France -These early exposures into the European artistic culture would shape  Mary's own artistic works. -She went to Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. -She convinced her parents to let her pursue art as a career. -Studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme. -She would soon leave the United States because she found the lack of support for the artistic community abhorrent. -She traveled to many European countries where she became inspired by various actors from the time. -By the 1870s Cassatt had a studio in parents, were she would draw her family as her subject matter after they moved to Paris in 1877. -Cassatt would have her work published in the Salon of 1872 and would continue to be exhibited in the Salons. -After her works were rejected in the late mid 1870s, Cassatt would shy away from the pomp and circumstance that is the Paris art world as it was often riddled with political agendas. -Degas took Cassatt under his wing in 1877, with Cassatt becoming a member of the impressionist group. -Cassatt became one of the first major impressionist artists in the U.S -She would often depict subjects including women in their daily lives and when Japanese art became popular in the western hemisphere, Cassatt would include many elements of wabi-sabi in her later works. -Cassatt would continue to make works that depicted women that included subtle deeper meanings. -She would continue to be friends with Degas until there opinions were divided during the Dreyfus Affair of 1894, though they would later make up. -Cassatt would lose many things in the early 20th century including her sight. -With her increasing blindness Mary Cassatt spent most of her last years, exhibiting work without actually being able to make any new creations. -Cassatt is considered one of the most influential expatriate artists of her generation with some of her work being displayed in  the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

Summary of: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-cassatt-mary-life-and-legacy.htm

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Questions: 1) In the early days of art and even now politics and expression seem to go hand in hand. How was Cassatt affected by this and how did this change her relationship with Degas in later years? 2) Artist tend to have preferences and Mary Cassatt had a very specific subject matter she tended to depict. What was it and how did it influence her peers? 3) How was Mary Cassatt influenced by eastern art and why?

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