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Artist Profile: Mary Cassatt

By Shelley Esaak, About.com

Mary Cassatt - Little Girl Blue Armchair

Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Scan © Mark Harden, used with permission
Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:

Impressionism

Date and Place of Birth:

May 25, 1844, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania

Life:

Mary Cassatt, best known and loved for her tender portrayals of mothers with children, was not a mother herself. Instead, she pursued the unusual path of becoming a professional painter and printmaker in a foreign country (France). Her great friendship with Edgar Degas gained her entrée into the Paris art world, and she became affiliated (and exhibited) with the Impressionists. In turn, she used her social connections to help the Impressionists, and many wealthy Americans became their patrons.

Important Works:

    Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878)
    Mother About to Wash Her Sleepy Child (1880)
    Girl Arranging Her Hair (1886)
    The Letter (1891)
    The Bath (1892)

Date and Place of Death:

June 14, 1926, Le Mesnil-Théribus, France

See more resources on Mary Cassatt by following the links at top right

Go to Artist Profiles: Names beginning with "C" or Artist Profiles: Main Index

(Image scan courtesy and copyright of Mark Harden, used with kind permission. Please visit The Artchive for more fine resources.)

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