Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt ( May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar Degas and exhibited with 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. She was described by Gustave Geffroy as one of "les trois grandes dames" (the three great ladies) of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Berthe Morisot. In 1879, Diego Martelli compared her to Degas, as they both sought to depict movement, light, and design in the most modern sense.

Mary Cassatt- Early Career

A distant cousin of artist Robert Henri, Cassatt was one of seven children, of whom two died in infancy. One brother, Alexander Johnston Cassatt, later became president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The family moved eastward, first to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, then to the Philadelphia area, where she started her schooling at the age of six. Cassatt grew up in an environment that viewed travel as integral to education; she spent five years in Europe and visited many of the capitals, including London, Paris, and Berlin. While abroad she learned German and French and had her first lessons in drawing and music. It is likely that her first exposure to French artists Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix, Camille Corot, and Gustave Courbet was at the Paris World's Fair of 1855. Also in the exhibition were Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, both of whom were later her colleagues and mentors. Though her family objected to her becoming a professional artist, Cassatt began studying painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia at the early age of 15. Part of her parents' concern may have been Cassatt's exposure to feminist ideas and the bohemian behavior of some of the male students. As such, Cassatt and her network of friends were lifelong advocates of equal rights for the sexes. Although about 20% of the students were female, most viewed art as a socially valuable skill; few of them were determined, as Cassatt was, to make art their career. She continued her studies from 1861 through 1865, the duration of the American Civil War. Thomas Eakins was among her fellow students; later Eakins was forced to resign as director of the Academy. Impatient with the slow pace of instruction and the patronizing attitude of the male students and teachers, she decided to study the old masters on her own. She later said: "There was no teaching" at the Academy. Female students could not use live models, until somewhat later, and the principal training was primarily drawing from casts. Cassatt decided to end her studies: At that time, no degree was granted. After overcoming her father's objections, she moved to Paris in 1866, with her mother and family friends acting as chaperones. Since women could not yet attend the École des Beaux-Arts, Cassatt applied to study privately with masters from the school and was accepted to study with Jean-Léon Gérôme, a highly regarded teacher known for his hyper-realistic technique and his depiction of exotic subjects. (A few months later Gérôme also accepted Eakins as a student.) Cassatt augmented her artistic training with daily copying in the Louvre, obtaining the required permit, which was necessary to control the "copyists", usually low-paid women, who daily filled the museum to paint copies for sale. The museum also served as a social place for Frenchmen and American female students, who, like Cassatt, were not allowed to attend cafes where the avant-garde socialized. In this manner, fellow artist and friend Elizabeth Jane Gardner met and married famed academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Toward the end of 1866, she joined a painting class taught by Charles Joshua Chaplin, a genre artist. In 1868, Cassatt also studied with artist Thomas Couture, whose subjects were mostly romantic and urban. On trips to the countryside, the students drew from life, particularly the peasants going about their daily activities. In 1868, one of her paintings, A Mandoline Player, was accepted for the first time by the selection jury for the Paris Salon. With Elizabeth Jane Gardner, whose work was also accepted by the jury that year, Cassatt was one of two American women to first exhibit in the Salon. A Mandoline Player is in the Romantic style of Corot and Couture, and is one of only two paintings from the first decade of her career that is documented today. The French art scene was in a process of change, as radical artists such as Courbet and Édouard Manet tried to break away from accepted Academic tradition, and the Impressionists were in their formative years. Cassatt's friend Eliza Haldeman wrote home that artists "are leaving the Academy style and each seeking a new way, consequently just now everything is Chaos." Cassatt, on the other hand, continued to work in the traditional manner, submitting works to the Salon for over ten years, with increasing frustration. Returning to the United States in the late summer of 1870—as the Franco-Prussian War was starting—Cassatt lived with her family in Altoona. Her father continued to resist her chosen vocation, and paid for her basic needs, but not her art supplies. Cassatt placed two of her paintings in a New York gallery and found many admirers but no purchasers. She was also dismayed at the lack of paintings to study while staying at her summer residence. Cassatt even considered giving up art, as she was determined to make an independent living. She wrote in a letter of July 1871, "I have given up my studio & torn up my father's portrait, & have not touched a brush for six weeks nor ever will again until I see some prospect of getting back to Europe. I am very anxious to go out west next fall & get some employment, but I have not yet decided where." Cassatt traveled to Chicago to try her luck, but lost some of her early paintings in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Shortly afterward, her work attracted the attention of Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Domenec of Pittsburgh, who commissioned her to paint two copies of paintings by Correggio in Parma, Italy, advancing her enough money to cover her travel expenses and part of her stay. In her excitement she wrote, "O how wild I am to get to work, my fingers farely itch & my eyes water to see a fine picture again". With Emily Sartain, a fellow artist from a well-regarded artistic family from Philadelphia, Cassatt set out for Europe again.

In the Loge, Mary Cassatt

In the Loge, Mary Cassatt

Mother and Child, Mary Cassatt

Mother and Child, Mary Cassatt

Self Portrait, Mary Cassatt

Self Portrait, Mary Cassatt

The Boating Party, Mary Cassatt

The Boating Party, Mary Cassatt

The Caress, Mary Cassatt

The Caress, Mary Cassatt

The Child's Bath, Mary Cassatt

The Child's Bath, Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt - Impressionism

Within months of her return to Europe in the autumn of 1871, Cassatt's prospects had brightened. Her painting Two Women Throwing Flowers During Carnival was well received in the Salon of 1872, and was purchased. She attracted much favorable notice in Parma and was supported and encouraged by the art community there: "All Parma is talking of Miss Cassatt and her picture, and everyone is anxious to know her". 

After completing her commission for the bishop, Cassatt traveled to Madrid and Seville, where she painted a group of paintings of Spanish subjects, including Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla (1873, in the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). In 1874, she made the decision to take up residence in France. She was joined by her sister Lydia who shared an apartment with her. Cassatt opened a studio in Paris. Louisa May Alcott's sister, Abigail May Alcott, was then an art student in Paris and visited Cassatt. Cassatt continued to express criticism of the politics of the Salon and the conventional taste that prevailed there. She was blunt in her comments, as reported by Sartain, who wrote: "she is entirely too slashing, snubs all modern art, disdains the Salon pictures of Cabanel, Bonnat, all the names we are used to revere". Cassatt saw that works by female artists were often dismissed with contempt unless the artist had a friend or protector on the jury, and she would not flirt with jurors to curry favor. Her cynicism grew when one of the two pictures she submitted in 1875 was refused by the jury, only to be accepted the following year after she darkened the background. She had quarrels with Sartain, who thought Cassatt too outspoken and self-centered, and eventually they parted. Out of her distress and self-criticism, Cassatt decided that she needed to move away from genre paintings and onto more fashionable subjects, in order to attract portrait commissions from American socialites abroad, but that attempt bore little fruit at first. 

In 1877, both her entries were rejected, and for the first time in seven years she had no works in the Salon. At this low point in her career she was invited by Edgar Degas to show her works with the Impressionists, a group that had begun their own series of independent exhibitions in 1874 with much attendant notoriety. The Impressionists (also known as the "Independents" or "Intransigents") had no formal manifesto and varied considerably in subject matter and technique. They tended to prefer plein air painting and the application of vibrant color in separate strokes with little pre-mixing, which allows the eye to merge the results in an "impressionistic" manner. The Impressionists had been receiving the wrath of the critics for several years. Henry Bacon, a friend of the Cassatts, thought that the Impressionists were so radical that they were "afflicted with some hitherto unknown disease of the eye". They already had one female member, artist Berthe Morisot, who became Cassatt's friend and colleague. Cassatt admired Degas, whose pastels had made a powerful impression on her when she encountered them in an art dealer's window in 1875. "I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art," she later recalled. "It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it." She accepted Degas' invitation with enthusiasm and began preparing paintings for the next Impressionist show, planned for 1878, which (after a postponement because of the World's Fair) took place on April 10, 1879. She felt comfortable with the Impressionists and joined their cause enthusiastically, declaring: "we are carrying on a despairing fight & need all our forces". Unable to attend cafes with them without attracting unfavorable attention, she met with them privately and at exhibitions. She now hoped for commercial success selling paintings to the sophisticated Parisians who preferred the avant-garde. Her style had gained a new spontaneity during the intervening two years. Previously a studio-bound artist, she had adopted the practice of carrying a sketchbook with her while out-of-doors or at the theater, and recording the scenes she saw. 

In 1877, Cassatt was joined in Paris by her father and mother, who returned with her sister Lydia, all eventually to share a large apartment on the fifth floor of 13, Avenue Trudaine.  Mary valued their companionship, as neither she nor Lydia had married. A case was made that Mary suffered from narcissistic disturbance, never completing the recognition of herself as a person outside of the orbit of her mother. Mary had decided early in life that marriage would be incompatible with her career. Lydia, who was frequently painted by her sister, suffered from recurrent bouts of illness, and her death in 1882 left Cassatt temporarily unable to work. Cassatt's father insisted that her studio and supplies be covered by her sales, which were still meager. Afraid of having to paint "potboilers" to make ends meet, Cassatt applied herself to produce some quality paintings for the next Impressionist exhibition. Three of her most accomplished works from 1878 were Portrait of the Artist (self-portrait), Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, and Reading Le Figaro (portrait of her mother). 

Degas had considerable influence on Cassatt. Both were highly experimental in their use of materials, trying distemper and metallic paints in many works, such as Woman Standing Holding a Fan, 1878–79 (Amon Carter Museum of American Art).  She became extremely proficient in the use of pastels, eventually creating many of her most important works in this medium. Degas also introduced her to etching, of which he was a recognized master. The two worked side by side for a while, and her draftsmanship gained considerable strength under his tutelage. One example of her thoughtful approach to the medium of drypoint as a mode for reflecting on her status as an artist is 'Reflection' of 1889–90, which has recently been interpreted as a self-portrait.  Degas in turn depicted Cassatt in a series of etchings recording their trips to the Louvre. She treasured his friendship but learned not to expect too much from his fickle and temperamental nature after a project they were collaborating on at the time, a proposed journal devoted to prints, was abruptly dropped by him. The sophisticated and well-dressed Degas, then forty-five, was a welcome dinner guest at the Cassatt residence, and likewise they at his soirées. The Impressionist exhibit of 1879 was the most successful to date, despite the absence of Renoir, Sisley, Manet and Cézanne, who were attempting once again to gain recognition at the Salon. Through the efforts of Gustave Caillebotte, who organized and underwrote the show, the group made a profit and sold many works, although the criticism continued as harsh as ever. The Revue des Deux Mondes wrote, "M. Degas and Mlle. Cassatt are, nevertheless, the only artists who distinguish themselves... and who offer some attraction and some excuse in the pretentious show of window dressing and infantile daubing". Cassatt displayed eleven works, including Lydia in a Loge, Wearing a Pearl Necklace, (Woman in a Loge). Although critics claimed that Cassatt's colors were too bright and that her portraits were too accurate to be flattering to the subjects, her work was not savaged as was Monet's, whose circumstances were the most desperate of all the Impressionists at that time. She used her share of the profits to purchase a work by Degas and one by Monet. She participated in the Impressionist Exhibitions that followed in 1880 and 1881, and she remained an active member of the Impressionist circle until 1886. In 1886, Cassatt provided two paintings for the first Impressionist exhibition in the US, organized by art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. Her friend Louisine Elder married Harry Havemeyer in 1883, and with Cassatt as advisor, the couple began collecting the Impressionists on a grand scale. Much of their vast collection is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Cassatt also made several portraits of family members during that period, of which Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and His Son Robert Kelso (1885) is one of her best regarded. Cassatt's style then evolved, and she moved away from Impressionism to a simpler, more straightforward approach. She began to exhibit her works in New York galleries as well. After 1886, Cassatt no longer identified herself with any art movement and experimented with a variety of techniques.

The Cup of Tea, Mary Cassatt

The Cup of Tea, Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt - Feminist Viewpoints

Cassatt and her contemporaries enjoyed the wave of feminism that occurred in the 1840s, allowing them access to educational institutions at newly coed colleges and universities, such as Oberlin and the University of Michigan. Likewise, women's colleges such as Vassar, Smith and Wellesley opened their doors during this time. Cassat was an outspoken advocate for women's equality, campaigning with her friends for equal travel scholarships for students in the 1860s, and the right to vote in the 1910s. Mary Cassatt depicted the "New Woman" of the 19th century from the woman's perspective. As a successful, highly trained woman artist who never married, Cassatt—like Ellen Day Hale, Elizabeth Coffin, Elizabeth Nourse and Cecilia Beaux—personified the "New Woman". She "initiated the profound beginnings in recreating the image of the 'new' women", drawn from the influence of her intelligent and active mother, Katherine Cassatt, who believed in educating women to be knowledgeable and socially active. She is depicted in Reading 'Le Figaro' (1878). Although Cassatt did not explicitly make political statements about women's rights in her work, her artistic portrayal of women was consistently done with dignity and the suggestion of a deeper, meaningful inner life. Cassatt objected to being stereotyped as a "woman artist", she supported women's suffrage, and in 1915 showed eighteen works in an exhibition supporting the movement organised by Louisine Havemeyer, a committed and active feminist. The exhibition brought her into conflict with her sister-in-law Eugenie Carter Cassatt, who was anti-suffrage and who boycotted the show along with Philadelphia society in general. Cassatt responded by selling off her work that was otherwise destined for her heirs. In particular The Boating Party, thought to have been inspired by the birth of Eugenie's daughter Ellen Mary, was bought by the National Gallery, Washington DC.

The Loge, Mary Cassatt

The Loge, Mary Cassatt

Woman with a Fan, Mary Cassatt

Woman with a Fan, Mary Cassatt

Woman with a Red Zinnia, Mary Cassatt

Woman with a Red Zinnia, Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt - Relationship with Degas

Cassatt and Degas had a long period of collaboration. The two painters had studios close together, Cassatt at 19, rue Laval, Degas at 4, rue Frochot, less than a five-minute stroll apart, and Degas developed the habit of looking in at Cassatt's studio and offering her advice and helping her gain models. They had much in common: they shared similar tastes in art and literature, came from affluent backgrounds, had studied painting in Italy, and both were independent, never marrying. The degree of intimacy between them cannot be assessed now, as no letters survive, but it is unlikely they were in a relationship given their conservative social backgrounds and strong moral principles. Several of Vincent van Gogh's letters attest Degas' sexual continence. Degas introduced Cassatt to pastel and engraving, both of which Cassatt quickly mastered, while for her part Cassatt was instrumental in helping Degas sell his paintings and promoting his reputation in America. Both regarded themselves as figure painters, and the art historian George Shackelford suggests they were influenced by the art critic Louis Edmond Duranty's appeal in his pamphlet The New Painting for a revitalization in figure painting: "Let us take leave of the stylized human body, which is treated like a vase. What we need is the characteristic modern person in his clothes, in the midst of his social surroundings, at home or out in the street." 

After Cassatt's parents and sister Lydia joined Cassatt in Paris in 1877, Degas, Cassatt, and Lydia were often to be seen at the Louvre studying artworks together. Degas produced two prints, notable for their technical innovation, depicting Cassatt at the Louvre looking at artworks while Lydia reads a guidebook. These were destined for a prints journal planned by Degas (together with Camille Pissarro and others), which never came to fruition. Cassatt frequently posed for Degas, notably for his millinery series trying on hats. Around 1884, Degas made a portrait in oils of Cassatt, Mary Cassatt Seated, Holding Cards.[a] A Self-Portrait (c. 1880) by Cassatt depicts her in the identical hat and dress, leading art historian Griselda Pollock to speculate they were executed in a joint painting session in the early years of their acquaintance.  Cassatt and Degas worked most closely together in the fall and winter of 1879–80 when Cassatt was mastering her printmaking technique. Degas owned a small printing press, and by day she worked at his studio using his tools and press while in the evening she made studies for the etching plate the next day. However, in April 1880, Degas abruptly withdrew from the prints journal they had been collaborating on, and without his support the project folded. Degas' withdrawal piqued Cassatt who had worked hard at preparing a print, In the Opera Box, in a large edition of fifty impressions, no doubt destined for the journal. Although Cassatt's warm feelings for Degas were to last her entire life, she never again worked with him as closely as she had over the prints journal. Mathews notes that she ceased executing her theater scenes at this time. Degas was forthright in his views, as was Cassatt. They clashed over the Dreyfus affair (early in her career she had executed a portrait of the art collector Moyse Dreyfus, a relative of the court-martialled lieutenant at the center of the affair).  Cassatt later expressed satisfaction at the irony of Lousine Havermeyer's 1915 joint exhibition of hers and Degas' work being held in aid of women's suffrage, equally capable of affectionately repeating Degas' antifemale comments as being estranged by them (when viewing her Two Women Picking Fruit for the first time, he had commented "No woman has the right to draw like that"). From the 1890s onwards their relationship took on a decidedly commercial aspect, as in general had Cassatt's other relations with the Impressionist circle; nevertheless they continued to visit each other until Degas died in 1917.

Young Mother Sewing, Mary Cassatt

Young Mother Sewing, Mary Cassatt

Louise Nursing her Child, Mary Cassatt

Louise Nursing her Child, Mary Cassatt

The Kiss, Mary Cassatt

The Kiss, Mary Cassatt

After the Bath, Mary Cassatt

After the Bath, Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt - Later Life

Cassatt's reputation is based on an extensive series of rigorously drawn and tenderly observed paintings and prints on the theme of the mother and child. The earliest dated work on this subject is the drypoint Gardner Held by His Mother (an impression inscribed "Jan/88" is in the New York Public Library), although she had painted a few earlier works on the theme. Some of these works depict her own relatives, friends, or clients, although in her later years she generally used professional models in compositions that are often reminiscent of Italian Renaissance depictions of the Madonna and Child. After 1900, she concentrated almost exclusively on mother-and-child subjects, such as Woman with a Sunflower. Viewers may be surprised to find that despite her focus on portraying mother-child pairs in her portraits, "Cassatt rejected the idea of becoming a wife and mother..." The 1890s were Cassatt's busiest and most creative period. She had matured considerably and became more diplomatic and less blunt in her opinions. She also became a role model for young American artists who sought her advice. Among them was Lucy A. Bacon, whom Cassatt introduced to Camille Pissarro. Though the Impressionist group disbanded, Cassatt still had contact with some of the members, including Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro.

In 1891, she exhibited a series of highly original colored drypoint and aquatint prints, including Woman Bathing and The Coiffure, inspired by the Japanese masters shown in Paris the year before.  Cassatt was attracted to the simplicity and clarity of Japanese design, and the skillful use of blocks of color. In her interpretation, she used primarily light, delicate pastel colors and avoided black (a "forbidden" color among the Impressionists). Adelyn D. Breeskin, the author of two catalogue raisonnés of Cassatt's work, comments that these colored prints, "now stand as her most original contribution... adding a new chapter to the history of graphic arts...technically, as color prints, they have never been surpassed".

Also in 1891, Chicago businesswoman Bertha Palmer approached Cassatt to paint a 12' × 58' mural about "Modern Woman" for the Women's Building for the World's Columbian Exposition to be held in 1893. Cassatt completed the project over the next two years while living in France with her mother. The mural was designed as a triptych. The central theme was titled Young Women Plucking the Fruits of Knowledge or Science. The left panel was Young Girls Pursuing Fame and the right panel Arts, Music, Dancing. The mural displays a community of women apart from their relation to men, as accomplished persons in their own right. Palmer considered Cassatt to be an American treasure and could think of no one better to paint a mural at an exposition that was to do so much to focus the world's attention on the status of women. The mural did not survive following the run of the exhibition when the building was torn down. Cassatt made several studies and paintings on themes similar to those in the mural, so it is possible to see her development of those ideas and images. Cassatt also exhibited other paintings in the Exposition. As the new century arrived, Cassatt served as an advisor to several major art collectors and stipulated that they eventually donate their purchases to American art museums. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, France awarded her the Légion d'honneur in 1904. Although instrumental in advising American collectors, recognition of her art came more slowly in the United States. Even among her family members back in America, she received little recognition and was totally overshadowed by her famous brother.

Mary Cassatt's brother, Alexander Cassatt, was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1899 until his death in 1906. She was shaken, as they had been close, but she continued to be very productive in the years leading up to 1910. An increasing sentimentality is apparent in her work of the 1900s; her work was popular with the public and the critics, but she was no longer breaking new ground, and her Impressionist colleagues who once provided stimulation and criticism were dying. She was hostile to such new developments in art as post-Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism.  Two of her works appeared in the Armory Show of 1913, both images of a mother and child.

A trip to Egypt in 1910 impressed Cassatt with the beauty of its ancient art, but was followed by a crisis of creativity; not only had the trip exhausted her, but she declared herself "crushed by the strength of this Art", saying, "I fought against it but it conquered, it is surely the greatest Art the past has left us ... how are my feeble hands to ever paint the effect on me." Diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatism, neuralgia, and cataracts in 1911, she did not slow down, but after 1914 she was forced to stop painting as she became almost blind. Cassatt died on June 14, 1926 at Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, and was buried in the family vault at Le Mesnil-Théribus, France.

Mary Cassatt - The Complete Works

Title Date Painted
Child Drinking Milk 1868
Two Seated Women 1869
Sketch of Mrs. Currey Sketch of Mr. Cassatt 1871
Bacchante 1872
Portrait Of A Woman 1872
During Carnival 1872
The Flirtation A Balcony in Seville 1872
The Mandolin Player 1872
A Baby Smiling at Two Young Women 1873
Head of a Young Woman 1873
Mrs. Robert Simpson Cassatt 1873
Offering the Panel to the Bullfighter 1872-3
Portrait of a Lady of Seville 1873
Portrait of Madame Sisley 1873
Profile of an Italian Woman 1873
Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla 1873
Toreador 1873
Musical Party 1874
Portrait of Madame Cordier 1874
Peasant Woman Peeling an Orange 1875
The Young Bride 1875
Woman on a Striped Sofa with a Dog 1875
Head of a Young Girl 1876
Portrait of Miss Cassatt, holding the cards 1876
Mary Ellison Embroidering 1877
Portrait of a Lady (Miss My Ellison) 1877
Children in a Garden 1878
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair 1878
Portrait of Madame X Dressed for the Matinee 1878
Portrait Of The Artist 1878
The Opera 1877-8
The Reader 1878
At the Theater 1878-9
In the Box 1879
Moses Dreyfus 1879
Mother Combing Her Child’s Hair 1879
Portrait of girl 1879
The Cup of Tea 1879
Theater 1879
Woman Reading 1878-9
Woman Standing, Holding a Fan 1878-9
Woman with a Pearl Necklace 1879
Elsie Cassatt Holding a Big Dog 1880
Elsie in a Blue Chair 1880
Lady with a Fan (Portrait of Anne Chlotte Gailld) 1880
Lilacs in a Window 1880
Lydia Cassatt in a Green Bonnet and a Coat 1880
Lydia Cassatt Leaning on Her Arms, Seated in a Loge 1880
Lydia crocheting in the garden at marly 1880
Lydia Seated in the Garden with a Dog in Her Lap 1880
Mother about to Wash her Sleepy Child 1880
Mother and Child 1880
Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren 1880
Mrs. Gardner Cassatt in Black 1880
Portrait Of Alexander Cassatt 1880
Portrait of Alexander J. Cassatt 1880
Portrait of Mlle C. Lydia Cassatt 1880
Red poppies 1874-80
Self Portrait 1880
The Loge 1880
The Tea 1879-80
The Visitor 1880
Woman by a Window Feeding Her Dog 1880
Woman Reading in a Garden 1880
Young Girl Holding a Loose Bouquet 1880
A woman and child in the driving seat 1881
Lydia at the Tapestry Loom 1880-1
Lydia Reading on a Divan 1880-1
Susan Comforting the Baby (no.1) 1881
Susan Comforting the Baby (no.2) 1881
Susan in a Toque Trimmed with Two Roses 1881
Susan Seated Outdoors Wearing a Purple Hat 1881
Woman and Child Seated in a Garden 1881
Lydia Sitting on a Porch, Crocheting 1881-2
Master Robert Kelso Cassatt 1882
Robert and His Sailboat 1882
Woman in Black 1882
Young Woman Sewing in the garden 1880-2
Portrait of an elderly lady 1883
Susan on a balcony holding a dog 1883
Children Playing On The Beach 1884
Lady at the Tea Table 1885
Mr. Robert S. Cassatt on Horseback 1885
Portrait of Alexander J. Cassat and His Son Robert Kelso Cassatt 1884-5
The Sisters 1885
Child In A Straw Hat 1886
Girl ranging Her Hair 1886
Woman ranging Her Veil 1886
Young Girl with Brown Hair 1880-7
Young Woman Sewing in the Garden 1887
Mother’s Goodnight Kiss 1888
Woman and Child 1887-8
At the Window 1889
Baby in His Mother`s arms, sucking his finger 1889
Emmie and Her Child 1889
Helene de Septeuil 1889
Mathilde Holding a Baby Who Reaches out to the Right 1889
Mother And Child 1889
Mother and Child 1889
Mary Cassatt Gallery Images
Title Date Painted
Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt 1889
The Long Gloves 1889
Woman and child in front of a shelf which are placed a jug and basin 1889
Baby Bill 1890
Baby Bill in Cap and Shift 1890
Maternity 1890
Mother and Child 1890
Mother and Child 1890
Mother Holding a Child in Her arms 1890
Picking Daisies in a Field 1889-90
Portrait of a Lady 1890
Portrait of Mrs William Harrison 1890
Portrait of the Artist’s Mother 1889-90
The Child’s Caress 1890
Baby’s First Caress 1891
Bathing the Young Heir 1891
Celeste in a Brown Hat 1891
Contemplation 1891
Interior of a Tramway Passing a Bridge 1890-1
Jenny and Her Sleepy Child 1891
Mothers Kiss 1891
Nude Child 1890-1
The Bath 1890-1
The Fitting 1891
The Lamp 1890-1
The Letter 1890-1
The Visit 1890-1
Woman With A Red Zinnia 1891
Little Girl with a Japanese Doll 1892
Portrait of Master St. Pierre 1892
The Sailor Boy Gardener Cassatt 1892
Young Woman Picking Fruit 1891-2
Young Woman Picking the Fruit of Knowledge 1892
Baby Reaching For An Apple 1893
Gathering Fruit 1893
Margaret Milligan Sloan 1893
Portrait of Margaret Milligan Sloan (no.2) 1893
Sleepy Thomas Sucking His Thumb 1893
The Banjo Lesson 1893
The Child’s Bath 1893
The Family 1893
Young Thomas And His Mother 1893
Girl with a Banjo 1893-4
In the park 1894
Marie Therese Gaillard 1894
Peasant Mother and Child 1894
Smiling Mother with Sober Faced Child 1894
Summertime 1894
The Banjo Lesson 1893-4
The Boating Party 1893-4
The Pensive Reader 1894
The Two Sisters 1893-4
Young Woman Reflecting 1894
Clissa Turned Left with Her Hand to Her Ear 1895
Feeding the Ducks 1895
Nurse Reading to a Little Girl 1895
On the Water 1895
Portrait of Mrs Havemeyer and Her Daughter Electra 1895
Young Woman with Auburn Hair in a Pink Blouse 1895
Ellen Mary Cassatt In A White Coat, 1896
Maternal Caress 1896
Maternal Kiss 1896
Portrait of Mrs. H. O. Hevemeyer 1896
The Horse Chestnut 1896
The Conversation 1896
A Kiss For Baby Anne 1897
A Kiss for Baby Anne (no. 3) 1897
Breakfast in Bed 1897
Little Ann Sucking Her Finger Embraced by Her Mother, 1897
Nurse and Child 1896-7
Pattycake 1897
Sketch of Anne and Her Nurse 1897
The Barefoot Child 1897
The Barefoot Child 1897
Two Young Girls with a Child 1897
Women Admiring a Child 1897
Young Girls 1897
Bust of Ellen with Bows in Her Hair 1898
By the Pond 1898
Heads of Leontine and a Friend 1898
Leontine in a Pink Fluffy Hat 1898
Little Girl in a Red Beret 1898
Louise Nursing Her Child 1898
Mother and child 1898
Portrait of a Young Woman 1898
Portrait of a Young Woman in Green 1898
Portrait of Ellen Mary Cassatt 1898
The Befooted Child 1898
The Garden Reading 1898
Woman with a Parakeet 1898
Ellen with Bows in Her Hair, Looking Right 1898
Madame Meerson and Her Daughter 1899
Mother Playing with Her Child 1899
Portrait of Madame A. F. Aude and Her Two Daughters 1899
Jules Being Dried by His Mother 1900
Mother and Child 1900
Mother and Child 1900
Mother and Child 1900
Mother Berthe Holding Her Baby 1900
Mary Cassatt Gallery Images
Title Date
Mother Rose Nursing Her Child 1900
Portrait Of A Young Girl 1900
Woman in a Black Hat and a Raspberry Pink Costume 1900
Young Mother 1900
After the bath 1901
Head of Sara in a Bonnet Looking Left 1901
Jules Standing by His Mother 1901
Mother and Children 1901
Mother and Sara Admiring the Baby 1901
Mother combing Sara’s hair 1901
Mother Sara and the Baby 1901
Portrait of young woman 1901
Sara and Her Mother with the Baby 1901
Sara Handing a Toy to the Baby 1901
Sara Looking towards the Right 1901
Sara with her dog 1901
Sarah in a Green Bonnet 1901
Sketch of Antoinette (no.1) 1901
Somone in a White Bonnet 1901
Child In Orange Dress 1902
Margot 1902
Margot in Blue 1902
Margot in White 1902
Mother Sara and the Baby 1902
Motherhood 1902
Portrait of Louise Aurora child Villeboeuf 1902
Portrait of Mme. Fontveille 1902
Reine Lefebre and Margot before a Window 1902
Sara in a Large Flowered Hat Looking Right Holding Her Dog 1902
Sketch of Reine and Child 1902
Young Girl Seated in a Yellow Armchair 1902
Head of Simone in a Large Plumes Hat, Looking Left 1903
Margot Wearing a Bonnet 1903
Portrait of a Young Girl (Simone) 1903
Reine Lefebvre Holding a Nude Baby 1902-3
Simone in a Large Plumed Hat, Seated, Holding a Griffon Dog 1903
Simone in Plumed Hat 1903
Simone in White Bonnet Seated with Clasped Hands (no.1) 1903
Dorothy in a Very Large Bonnet and a Dark Coat 1904
Mother and Daughter Looking at the Baby 1905
Portrait of Madame Alfred Lavergne, born Magdalena Mellon 1902-5
Sketch of Ellen My Cassatt in a Big Blue Hat 1905
Young Mother and Two Children 1905
Mother and Two Children 1906
Motherhood 1906
Young Boy in Blue 1906
Boat, Bath 1908
Bust of Francoise Looking Down 1908
Child with Red Hat 1908
Mary Cassatt Gallery Images
Title Date
Children Playing with a Cat 1908
Francoise Wearing a Big White Hat 1908
Girl In Large Hat 1908
Head of Francoise Looking Down 1908
Maternal Tenderness 1908
Mother And Child 1908
Mother And Child 1908
Mother and Child Smiling at Each Other 1908
Mother Jeanne Nursing Her Baby 1907-8
Sara Holding A Cat 1908
A Girl in Pink 1908
Young Girl Reading 1908
Antoinette at her dresser 1909
Ellen Mary Cassatt with a Large Bow in Her Hair 1908-9
Françoise in Green, Sewing 1908-9
Head of Julie, Looking Down 1909
Mother And Child In A Boat 1909
Woman`s Head with Large Hat 1909
Auguste Reading to Her Daughter 1910
Child with Bangs in a Blue Dress 1910
Portrait of Charles Dikran Kelekian 1910
Sleepy Baby 1910
Study for Augusta Reading to Her Daughter 1910
Portrait of Mie Louise Durand Ruel 1911
Mother and Child Reading 1913
Nude Baby on Mother’s Lap Resting Her arm on the Back of the Chair 1913
The Chrochet Lesson 1913
Baby Lying on His Mother s Lap, reaching to hold a scarf 1914
Mother and Child 1914
Mother Holding Her Baby 1914
Woman Sewing 1913-4
Young Woman In Green Outdoors In The Sun 1914
Sketch of Mother Looking down at Thomas
Baby Smiling up at Her Mother
Girl’s Head Green Background
In the garden
Little girl with cap Sun
Lydia at the Theater
Margot Lux with a wide hat
Portrait of young girl
Roman Girl
Sara in a Bonnet
Sara in Dark Bonnet with Right Hand on Arm of Chair
Sara with her dog
Sketch of Francois
The bath
The Sisters
James Lucas
Tagged: artist profile
About the Author