Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter who, together with Marie Bracquemond and Berthe Morisot, was one of the "Grandes Dames" of Impressionism. Her father was a stockbroker and real estate agent, her mother came from a respected banking family. This wealthy background enabled Cassatt to receive an excellent education. Especially her mother, who was described as very well-read and educated, is said to have influenced her. During her childhood the family lived in Europe for five years. During this time Cassatt probably became interested in painting and later decided to study art to become a professional painter herself. The family was against it for various reasons, one being that it was inappropriate for women from wealthy families to pursue a profession at that time. On the other hand, her conservative parents feared that her studies would lead her to embrace feminist and unconventional ideologies. In fact, Cassatt later campaigned strongly for equal rights and the right to vote for women.
Against the will of her parents, Cassatt began studying at the Pennsylvania Art Academy at the age of 15. Although around 20% of the students were female, they were not accepted as fully-fledged by the teaching staff and male fellow students. This fact, the slowly progressing curriculum and the poor course offerings frustrated Cassatt so much that she dropped out of her studies prematurely. Once again she was able to assert her will and travelled to Europe to study the old masters on her own. Not only her father was strictly against her career aspirations, but she often met with resistance from the academic artists in Paris, where she ended up settling down. She was rarely given the recognition she deserved for her work. It was therefore not surprising that she accepted the invitation of Edgar Degas and exhibited many works with the Impressionists, who were considered unconventional. She became a passionate advocate of the movement, especially in her old home country.
Mary Cassatt remained unmarried, as did her close friend Degas. Despite their close relationship, an affair seems unlikely, as they were both influenced by their strictly conservative, moral background. Vincent van Gogh is also said to have intimated in some letters that Degas was sexually abstinent. Nevertheless, their relationship was so close that the studios of the two were only 5 minutes apart. Degas was in her studio almost daily, a close advisor and her mentor. Cassatt tried to distance herself from Degas' works by often focusing on women in everyday life and especially the intimate relationship between mother and child, as in "La Toilette" or "The Breastfeeding Mother". From 1910 on, her active creative period declined. Her brother died that year of an infection, which he probably contracted during a trip to Egypt with his wife and Mary. Until 1912 she could no longer paint out of grief. Later she increasingly lost her eyesight due to diabetes, until she finally became completely blind. This is said to have affected her deeply, because her great passion, art, was extinguished together with her eyesight.
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.jpg "Breakfast in Bed, 1897 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman bathing, 1890-91 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child in a Straw Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Woman Sewing in the Garden, c. 1880-82 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren, 1888 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt")
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_1890-1_(drypoint_and_aquatint)_-_(MeisterDrucke-379749).jpg "Woman Bathing (La Toilette) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Two Seated Women by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Letter by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lilacs in a Window, c. 1880 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child in a Straw Hat, c. 1886 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Sara holding a cat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lilacs in a Window by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Girl Arranging Her Hair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Reclining Nude by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother in Purple Holding her Child, c. 1914 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Mother Sewing, 1900 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Feeding the Ducks by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Coiffure by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Maternal Kiss, 1896. by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman in a black hat and a raspberry pink costume, c. 1899 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "The Black Hat, c. 1890. by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Woman in Black, c.1882 by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-313560).jpg "A Kiss for Baby Anne, 1897 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-84756).jpg "Mother and Child, 1897 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1713123).jpg "The Picture Book (No. 1) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the Artist")
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.jpg "Young Girl Reading by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lady in Black, in a Loge, Facing Right by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Musical Party, 1874 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman Bathing by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children in a Garden by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lady in Black, in a Loge, Facing Right, c. 1880. by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Woman in Black by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Large Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Jules Being Dried by His Mother by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother Louise Holding Up Her Blue-Eyed Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Lady at the Tea Table, 1883-5 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "A Woman and a Girl Driving by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "On a Balcony by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Blue Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman in Raspberry Costume Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother About to Wash Her Sleepy Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Mrs. Alexander J. Cassat in a Blue Evening Gown Seated at a Tapestry Frame by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Baby Charles by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sleepy Nicolle by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Peasant Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Girl playing with a ball of wool, c. 1875 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Kneeling in an Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lady in Black, in a Loge, Facing Right by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Woman in Black by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for Standing Nude by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Cup of Tea by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Girl Arranging Her Hair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Black Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Baby John with Forefinger in His Mouth by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Girl Arranging Her Hair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Baby John Being Nursed by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Barefooted Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child")
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.jpg "Mr. and Mrs. Cassatt Reading by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Margot Leaning against Reine")
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.jpg "Master Alexander J. Cassatt, Jr. by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-58006).jpg "Head of a Young Girl by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother with Left Hand Holding Sara")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-272365).jpg "Sarah Looking Left, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Girl Arranging Her Hair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sara in a Green Bonnet by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1336910).jpg "Boy with Golden Curls (Portrait of Harris Whittemore, Jr., B.A. 1918) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Artist")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-368567).jpg "Mother Rose Nursing Her Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Cup of Tea by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-368568).jpg "Louisine Havemeyer and Her Daughter Electra by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Sarah with the Baby, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sara with Her Dog in an Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mary Cassatt Self-Portrait by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-36306).jpg "Woman Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Bare Back by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Artist, 1878 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Child in its Mother")
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.jpg "Francoise Wearing a Big White Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "After-Dinner Coffee (recto), After-Dinner Coffee (verso), c. 1889 by Mary Cassatt")
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_c1900_-_(MeisterDrucke-130430).jpg "Woman and Child (Mathilde Holding a Child), c.1900 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman with a Fan by Mary Cassatt")
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