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 "Child in a Straw Hat, c. 1886 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Reclining Nude by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lilacs in a Window by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Mother Sewing 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 "Mother in Purple Holding her Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lilacs in a Window by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren, 1888 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 "Girl Arranging Her Hair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Two Seated Women by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Feeding the Ducks by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Letter by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-313560).jpg "A Kiss for Baby Anne, 1897 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of Anne Charlotte Gaillard by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children Playing on the Beach, 1884 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Reine Lefebvre Holding a Nude Baby by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-84756).jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for \"Standing Nude\" by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Under the Lamp by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for Standing Nude by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Omnibus, 1890-1891 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 "Sketch for \"Francoise in a Round-Backed Chair, Reading\" or \"A Girl in Pink\" by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Lamp, 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Baby Charles, 1900 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of Mlle C. Lydia Cassatt, 1880 by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-36306).jpg "Woman Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-368567).jpg "Mother Rose Nursing Her Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Baby with Left Hand Touching a Tub, Held by Her Nurse by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother Feeding Child, 1898 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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![The Fitting [verso], 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt](/kunstwerke/300px/Mary_Cassatt_-_The_Fitting_verso_18901891_-_(MeisterDrucke-1138304).jpg "The Fitting [verso], 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt")
![The Fitting [verso], 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt](/kunstwerke/400w/Mary_Cassatt_-_The_Fitting_verso_18901891_-_(MeisterDrucke-1138304).jpg)
 - (MeisterDrucke-272365).jpg "Sarah Looking Left, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1337458).jpg "Margot Wearing a Bonnet (No. 1) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sleepy Baby by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-196605).jpg "The Barefooted Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Coiffure, 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Nude Baby on Mother")
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.jpg "Maternal Caress by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "On a Balcony by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Barefooted Child, c.1896 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Mother by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Swim, or Two Mothers and Their Children on a Boat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman sitting with a Child in her Arms, c.1890 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Bill Lying on his Mothers Lap by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman Bathing by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sleepy Nicolle by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1591830).jpg "Woman Bathing by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sara in a Large Flowered Hat, Looking Right, Holding Her Dog, c.1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Opera Box, No. 3 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother Rose Looking Down at her Sleeping Baby, c.1900 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Corner of the Sofa, No. 3 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Sarah with the Baby, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman in a Black Hat and a Raspberry Pink Costume by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Gathering Fruit by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Francoise Wearing a Big White Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lydia and Her Mother at Tea by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Maternal Kiss by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-58006).jpg "Head of a Young Girl by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mademoiselle Luguet in a Coat and Hat, c. 1883 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sara in dark Bonnet Tied under her Chin, c.1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Dorothy in a Very Large Bonnet and a Dark Coat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Head of a Young Girl by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lydia Seated on a Porch, Crocheting by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Box by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Jules Being Dried by His Mother by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Repose by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Peasant Mother and Child, c. 1894 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1251321).jpg "The Corner of the Sofa (No. 3) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "On a Balcony by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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 1891 (drypoint soft-ground etc - (MeisterDrucke-293959).jpg "In the Omnibus (The Tramway) by Mary Cassatt")
 1891 (drypoint soft-ground etc - (MeisterDrucke-293959).jpg)
.jpg "Peasant Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Peasant Mother and Child, c. 1894 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sara with Her Dog in an Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Maternity by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-323470).jpg "The Lamp, 1891 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Simone Seated, c. 1903 by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-135968).jpg "Portrait of Charles Dikran Kelekian 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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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1219587).jpg "The Picture Book (No. 1) by Mary Cassatt")
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