|
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was born to Mr. and Mrs.
Robert S. Cassatt. Mr. Cassatt provided a comfortable lifestyle
for his family as a wealthy merchant. The family lived in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until 1851 (Mary Cassatt
1844-1926) when Mary and her two older
siblings moved with their parents to Europe until 1858. During
this time they lived in Paris, France and two cities in Germany, Heidelberg
and Darmstat. Mary was exposed to the art world early
in life by this experience. The family then traveled back to their
home in Philadelphia in 1858.
Mary enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts in 1861 where she remained until graduation in 1865. She and
her mother traveled to Paris where Mary studied art and
practiced while in France. Mary was forced to leave during the
Franco -Prussian war of 1870. When she returned to
Europe in 1872 she studied in Parma, Italy with Emily Sartain.It
was said in
Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman,
that the
two became close friends as they studied art and mastered their
craft as painters. While in Parma she painted On the Balcony
which became her first submission to the Parisian Salon. The
following year, she left her friend, studied in Seville, and then
traveled to Belgium and Holland. Cassatt next moved back to Paris where she
purchased property and reunited with friend Emily Sartain (Mary Cassatt
1844-1926) who also
lived in Paris at the time, where she boarded in a house with
Louisine
Elder.
|
|
|
|
Mary Cassatt
Self Portrait
1878
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY |
|
|
It was in 1874 that Mary Cassatt and Louisine Elder
became friends. Mary had several connections among professional and notable painters.
She was well acquainted with Degas, to the point that art
historians speculate whether they had an intimate relationship. Louisine notes in her memoirs about conversations she and Mary had
about Degas. Degas was known to have an ego and Louisine noted in
Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a collector
she once
asked Mary "How do you get on with him?" Mary responded
"Oh, I am an independent! I can live alone and I love to work.
Sometimes it made him furious that he could not find a chink in my armour, and there would be months when we just could not see
each other, and then something I painted would bring us together
again...but [he was] magnificent!" Degas went on to invite Cassatt
to the circle of peers (Mary Cassatt
1844-1926) comprising the Impressionist movement,
included Monet, Manet and Courbet. Mary Cassatt's
and Lousine's friendship yielded a powerful team of art collecters. Cassatt's connections to professional artists and advice on
purchases guided Louisine. Most significantly though was the
"gate" Cassatt and Louisine's friendship ultimately
created between European artists and wealthy collectors in the United States. Louisine deserves
credit for popularizing European art into the phenomenon it has
become for American art collectors to this day. Louisine herself was an avid and wealthy art collector. Though
they were parted for years when Louisine moved back to the United
States where she married and had a family, she and Mary remained
in close contact at all times Louisine wrote in her
memoirs, conspiring about art work for
potential purchase. Louisine's marriage was advantageous for Mary
as well. Louisine's husband
Harry was also a wealthy collector, in
contact with the famous art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who allowed
Mary Cassatt to exhibit in his galleries and thus enhanced her
recognition as an impressionist painter.  Mary
Cassatt c.1923
Photo:
The
Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America Cassatt returned to the United states in 1898 where
she met the Havemeyer family and came in contact with young
Electra Havemeyer. She returned to Europe where she had
ambitiously developed her career as an artist, becoming
internationally famous for her magnificent artwork. Her last visit
to America was in 1908, and soon after she traveled to Egypt with her
brother. In 1912, Mary suffered from serious emotional instability and
also had surgery for cataracts. In 1914, she was awarded the Gold
Medal of Honor by the Pennsylvania Academy when at the same time
it was noted in Mary Cassatt
1844-1926 that she was forced to stop painting because of her blindness. Mary Cassatt
died in 1926 as a legend in the Impressionist
movement and the history of American collecting. |
