Mary Cassatt - Resources for Art Lovers

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Learning about Mary Cassatt and her prints and paintings

This lens is about Mary Cassatt - the artist and Impressionist painter. It provides links to where you can:
- find out more about Mary Cassatt's life
- see images of Cassatt's paintings - either on-line or in museums and galleries around the world
- read about exhibitions of her paintings
- get books about Cassatt's life and work
- learn more about Cassatt and Impressionism


New links are being added added on a regular basis. Bookmark or share - see the right hand column

Mary Cassatt on Wikipedia 

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) () was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists.

Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children.

Biography of Mary Cassatt 

Art Institute of Chicago - Artist Biography : Artist Biography: Mary Cassatt
A concise biography of Cassatt's life and work.

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844-1926
Mary Cassatt spent most of her career in Paris, though she was an American. She achieved critical success in France but was little appreciated in the United States until late in her career. "I am very much disappointed,"she wrote in 1895, "that my compatriots have so little liking for any of my work."

BOOKS: About Mary Cassatt and her work 

books on Amazon

Cassatt: A Retrospective

Cassatt: A Retrospective traces the life of this great American artist through the correspondence and accomplishments she maintained over a lifetime. Carefully selected letters with fascinating descriptions of social events, professional meetings, meals, and homelife abroad span several decades to reveal Cassatt's thoughts and activities. Also included are more than 200 illustrations (118 in color) of Cassatt's greatest and lesser-known works - paintings, pastels, and etchings.

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Mary Cassatt: A Life

One of few women Impressionists, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) had a life of paradoxes: American born, she lived and worked in France; a classically trained artist, she preferred the company of radicals; never married, she painted exquisite and beloved portraits of mothers and children. This book provides new insight into the personal life and artistic endeavors of this extraordinary woman. 133 illustrations.

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Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives

Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives offers an intimate look into the world of women in the late nineteenth century. Using the paintings, prints, and pastels that Cassatt created throughout her career, this book explores the main facets of feminine life: solitary, social, public, and intimate.-- Published in conjunction with a major 1998 retrospective that opens at the Art Institute in Chicago in September and travels to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.-- Cassatt herself emerges not just as a chronicler of nineteenth-century women's lives, but as the inhabitant of an extraordinary life that took her from a traditional upbringing to a level of professional achievement unprecedented for a woman of her time.-- Quotations from contemporary authors such as Henry James, and Edith Wharton enliven the text and add further insight into Cassatt's life and work.

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Mary Cassatt: Painter of Modern Women (World of Art)

Pollock sees Cassatt as the "painter of modern women" who was unafraid of such tough artistic influences as Degas, Courbet, and Manet. In this clearly written guide, Cassatt's courage shines through, but also her variety. Readers may begin to look at the women and children in the paintings and discern new expressions in their faces, not just the sweet sentiment that has usually been interpreted therein.

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Mary Cassatt in Art Galleries and Museums 

Mary Cassatt | Explore & Learn | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Explore the life, times, and works of art of the female American Impressionist Mary Cassatt through her biography and a guide to her works of art.
Collection of the Art Institiute of Chicago - Mary Cassatt
Drawings, paintings and prints by Mary Cassatt
(54 records)
Hill-Stead Museum - Highlights of the Collection - Cassatt
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)
Mary Cassatt lived most of her adult life in France and was closely aligned with the French Impressionists. She was particularly influenced by the work of Edgar Degas.
Mary Cassatt | Explore & Learn | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Her Work
Choice of Media
Choice of Subject
Influence on American Collections
Mary Cassatt's place in the history of American art is unique, not only because she was one of the few woman artists of any nationality to succeed professionally in her time, but also because she was the only American artist to exhibit with the French Impressionists.
NGA - Mary Cassatt: Selected Paintings
Mary Cassatt was born into an affluent family in Pennsylvania on May 22, 1844. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, one of the country's leading art schools. In addition to having regular exhibitions of European and American art, the faculty at the Academy encouraged students to study abroad. In 1865 Cassatt approached her parents with the idea of studying in Paris. Despite their initial objections, Cassatt's parents relented and allowed her to go

Mary Cassatt in Online Galleries 

ARTCYCLOPEDIA - Mary Cassatt Online
Mary Cassatt [American Impressionist Painter, 1844-1926] Guide to pictures of works by Mary Cassatt in art museum sites and image archives worldwide.
WebMuseum: Cassatt, Mary
Cassatt, Mary (b. May 22, 1844, Allegheny City, Pa., U.S.--d. June 14, 1926, Chateau de Beaufresne, near Paris, Fr.),
American painter and printmaker who exhibited with the Impressionists.
Mary Cassatt - Olga's Gallery
One of the largest online painting museums. New exhibits daily. Biographies and main works of many famous artists. Excellent quality of reproductions. Historical comments.
WetCanvas: Virtual Museum: Individual Artists: Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt: 1844 - 1926
The most famous female Impressionist painter, Mary Cassatt, was born on 22 May, 1844 in Allegheny, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
WetCanvas: Virtual Museum: Individual Artists: Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt: Painter of Mothers and Children
Mary Cassatt had always exhibited an interest in painting mothers and their children but, in 1880 Cassatt's brother, Alexander, arrived in Paris with his young family. The arrival renewed Cassatt's interest in depicting children, and her nephews and nieces now provided the opportunity for Cassatt to study and paint children from life. Taking advantage of her brother's family as models, she produced such works as the double portrait, Portrait of Mr. Alexander J. Cassatt and his son, Robert Kelso (1884).
WetCanvas: Virtual Museum: Individual Artists: Mary Cassatt: Painter of Mothers and Children
Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas: Friends or Lovers? Not much is known about Mary Cassatt's relationship with Degas, as she burned all their correspondence before she died. However, it is generally assumed that the two were lovers, although nothing can be proved. What is certain is that the two painters had a close, if turbulent, relationship over a period of forty years that ended in Degas' death in 1917. Degas' difficult and cantankerous nature often lead to periods of estrangement that could only be ended when mutual friends brought the two together again.
Allpaintings - Mary Cassatt
Images by Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 ? June 14, 1926)

Mary Cassatt and the Women Impressionists 

book from Amazon

This is the catalogue of the Women Impressionists exhibition held in San Francisco in 2008

Women Impressionists

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All of these women practiced and supported Impressionism from its earliest days, when it was still a popular sport to deride it.

The female members of the nineteenth-century Impressionist movement are usually painted out of official art history, although Edouard Manet, for one, testified to the talents of his friends Berthe Morisot (whose "Harbor at Lorient" of 1869 he so admired that she gave it to him) and Eva Gonzales (the only pupil Manet ever took), and discussed matters of painting with them as readily as with male peers like Edgar Degas.

Even Degas himself, notoriously misogynistic, invited Mary Cassatt to exhibit with him (she was the only American to do so); and Marie Bracquemond also exhibited at the Impressionist exhibitions of 1879, 1880 and 1886, despite the discouragement of her husband.

Nonetheless, for Morisot, Gonzales, Bracquemond and Cassatt, the chances of equivalent long-term recognition were predictably slim, and while their own individual oeuvres were too strong and too omnipresent in their own time to be entirely eradicated from the annals of art, they have rarely received due attention in the hands of subsequent commentators.

This stunning 400-page compendium, published to accompany the important exhibition which travelled to San Francisco in the summer of 2008, corrects this longstanding oversight, presenting these pioneering painters alongside each other for the first time, reproducing their oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, drawings and etchings and offering a cogent rebuttal of familiar Impressionist narratives.

Available in paperback and hardcover, 320 pages

makaingamark says
I have just bought this book and it's a treasure. I particularly like the way it covers all aspects of their work and is not just limited to paintings. It expands my knowledge of painters I thought I already knew and has given me a whole new perspective on women impressionists generally. Production values are excellent.

Release Date: 04/01/2008

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Mary Cassatt in Exhibitions 

MFA Boston: Exhibition - Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman (1999)
Cassatt's life was marked by her bold resolve to transcend conventional expectations for women and to succeed as an innovative professional artist. After her education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, she continued her studies in Europe and settled permanently in Paris in 1874....Cassatt embraced more radical art in the mid-1870s, when she discovered the works of the Impressionists, turned toward subjects drawn from modern life, and (as she later recalled) "began to live."
NG London / Exhibitions: Mary Cassatt: Prints
Edgar Degas, who considered that she had 'infinite talent', invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1877.

Two years later, Cassatt joined Degas and her fellow Impressionist Camille Pissarro in contributing to a journal of original prints. This marked the beginning of Cassatt's desire to make prints alongside her paintings. In 1890 a large display of Japanese art profoundly affected her, and she produced ten colour prints, described by Pissarro as 'rare and exquisite works'.
Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman
Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman
The Art Institute of Chicago is proud
to present Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, the first retrospective in
30 years of the work of one of the greatest artists this country has produced.
NG London/Current Exhibitions: Mary Cassatt: Prints
Mary Cassatt: Prints 22 February - 7 May 2006

Mary Cassatt was the only American painter to exhibit with the French Impressionists.

Born in 1845 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, she first travelled to Europe to study painting at the age of 21. Edgar Degas, who considered that she had 'infinite talent', invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1877.

Two years later, Cassatt joined Degas and her fellow Impressionist Camille Pissarro in contributing to a journal of original prints. This marked the beginning of Cassatt's desire to make prints alongside her paintings. In 1890 a large display of Japanese art profoundly affected her, and she produced ten colour prints, described by Pissarro as 'rare and exquisite works'.
Women Impressionists
Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond is a groundbreaking exhibition that showcases the innovative styles and contributions of the four major women artists of Impressionism.

The Legion of Honor is the exclusive venue in the U.S. for Women Impressionists, which features over 140 works. By bringing many works together for the first time, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to directly compare the work of these women artists.

Videos about Mary Cassatt on You Tube 


Mary Cassatt (Child of Mine)

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Mary Cassatt

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Mary Cassatt

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Mary Cassatt

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Class Example

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BOOKS - Mary Cassatt - Paintings, Drawings and Prints 

books on Amazon

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Paintings by Mary Cassatt 

Met. Museum - Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) The Cup of Tea, ca. 1880-81
The Cup of Tea, ca. 1880-81
Oil on canvas; 36 3/8 x 25 3/4 in. (92.4 x 65.4 cm)

This picture represents Cassatt's sister, Lydia Simpson Cassatt (1837-1882), although, as the title suggests, it is less a specific portrait than a representation of a popular social ritual-one of the activities of contemporary life that became the mainstay of Cassatt's Impressionist imagery. Painted in the artist's early Impressionist manner, it is a fine example of her skill as a colorist.
Met Museum - Mary Cassatt Lilacs in a Window (Vase de Lilas a la Fenetre), ca. 1880-83
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Lilacs in a Window (Vase de Lilas a la Fenetre), ca. 1880-83
Oil on canvas; 24 3/16 x 20 1/8 in. (61.5 x 51.1 cm)

A dark aubergine vase containing purple and white lilacs is shown placed on what seems to be a sill or work surface in a greenhouse, with the adjacent window held open by a prop. This most simple of subjects is presented with an angular fluency and dash characteristic of Cassatt's best work, which is not surprising given her love of gardens and flowers.
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926) The Child's Bath - the Art Institute of Chicago’s Collection
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)
The Child's Bath, 1893
Oil on canvas, 100.3 x 66.1 cm (39 1/2 x 26 in. )

In this work, Mary Cassatt addressed the theme of women and children, for which she is best known, while also experimenting with elements derived from Japanese art. In 1890, after viewing a large exhibition of Japanese prints at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she produced a series of prints influenced by their aesthetics. The Child's Bath is a culmination of these sensibilities, which emphasize decorative pattern and a flattened picture plane. Moreover, the subject mirrors that of many Japanese prints, which capture intimate scenes of everyday life.

Prints by Mary Cassatt 

NGA - Mary Cassatt — Selected Color Prints
Tour: Mary Cassatt - Selected Color Prints
Known for her perceptive depictions of women and children, Mary Cassatt was one of the few American artists active in the nineteenth-century French avant-garde. Born to a prominent Pittsburgh family, she traveled extensively through Europe with her parents and siblings while a child. Between 1860 and 1864 she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. At the age of twenty-two Cassatt went abroad, studying old master paintings in European museums. In Paris, she studied with prominent academic painters and independently at the Louvre. Returning to the United States for a short period, Cassatt went back to Europe in 1871, spending her time painting and copying the old masters in museums in Italy, Spain, and Belgium.
In the Omnibus, 1890-91 | The Art Institute of Chicago
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926)
printed by Leroy (French, active 1876-1900)
In the Omnibus, 1890-91

Drypoint and aquatint, in color, from three plates, partially printed à la poupée, on ivory laid paper
367 x 268 mm (plate); 437 x 300 mm (sheet)
Mary Cassatt Drawings Etching Lithograph Watercolors
A signed Mary Cassatt drawing, etching, or lithograph offers an affectionate touch of maternity and the intimate relationship between mother and child.

Reviews of Mary Cassat and her work 

Interpretive Resource | The Art Institute of Chicago
Examination: Cassatt's Artistic Portrayals of Contemporary Women and Children
A look at two of Cassatt's favorite subjects - women involved in everyday activities and women interacting with children - and the influence of Japanese art on her work.

Barter. J. et al. American Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago and New York: Hudson Press, 1998, p. 263-65.
Art Institute of Chicago : Text : Examination: Cassatt's Artistic Portrayals of Contemporary Women and Children
A look at two of Cassatt's favorite subjects - women involved in everyday activities and women interacting with children - and the influence of Japanese art on her work.
Art Institute opf Chicago - Text : Examination: Cassatt's Impressionist Depiction of Contemporary Life
Meet Mary Cassatt and learn about her interest in capturing everyday moments of contemporary life.

Woman Reading in a Garden - Like her colleague Pierre Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt blurs the distinction between portraiture and genre painting in this intimate outdoor scene. Less an exploration of the sitter's character or state of mind, Woman Reading in a Garden is as its title states?a depiction of a person in her everyday surroundings, specifically a new type of woman as the modern era dawned.
Mary Cassatt: Mothers and Children
Mary Cassatt: Mothers and Children
Mary Cassatt: A Feminist Painter of Domesticity?
Emily Turner, Princeton Class of 2008
Cassatt at the Opera
In the Loge with Lydia: Mary Cassatt's Need for Companionship
Spencer Case, Princeton Class of 2009
American Artist: Pastel Masters
Pastel Masters by Naomi Ekperigin
Covers Degas, Cassatt, Chase, Chardin and Millet

PHOTOS: Mary Cassatt  

Photos on Flickr

Mary Cassatt by cliff1066

Mary Cassatt

national portrait gallery 7.15.07 - 8 by laura padgett

national portrait ga...

Mary Cassatt - Musée d'Orsay by albany_tim

Mary Cassatt - Musé...

Mary Cassatt: Girl Arranging Her Hair by freeparking

Mary Cassatt: Girl A...

Mary Cassatt: At the Theatre by freeparking

Mary Cassatt: At the...

mary cassatt by freeparking

mary cassatt

mary cassatt by freeparking

mary cassatt

mary cassatt, sara bonnet by freeparking

mary cassatt, sara b...

Breakfast in Bed   Mary Cassatt by brewbooks

Breakfast in Bed M...

Breakfast in Bed   Mary Cassatt by brewbooks

Breakfast in Bed M...

Mary Cassatt - fine art giclees 

Fine art giclees are available from a number of reputable galleries
Mary Cassatt Prints and Posters - globalgallery.com
Mary Cassatt Prints and Posters. Explore our collection of Mary Cassatt art prints and posters (65 items). GlobalGallery.com

Making A Mark 

Katherine Tyrrell's blog about: - Making marks with pastels, pencils and pen and ink - Creating new drawings and paintings - Influences on developing both artwork and art careers - Interviews with artists - Information about resources for artists and art

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