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 "Child in a Straw Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman Bathing, 1890-91 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Young Mother Sewing by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lilacs in a Window 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 "Mother in Purple Holding her Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Reclining Nude 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 "Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren, 1888 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child in a Straw Hat, c. 1886 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lilacs in a Window by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Two Seated Women by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Sara holding a cat 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 "The Coiffure by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Girl Arranging Her Hair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Feeding the Ducks by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-84756).jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "A Goodnight Hug by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children Playing on the Beach, 1884 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Nude Baby on Mother")
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.jpg "Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-135968).jpg "Portrait of Charles Dikran Kelekian 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 "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 "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Profile of a Woman Wearing a Jabot 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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_-_(MeisterDrucke-36306).jpg "Woman Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for Standing Nude by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child with Red Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Visitor (recto), The Visitor (verso), c. 1881 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Redcurrant Dress 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 "Mother Feeding Child, 1898 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mary Cassatt Self-Portrait by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Lady by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Woman, 1881-83 by Mary Cassatt")
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 c1878 - (MeisterDrucke-218727).jpg "The Reader (Lydia Cassatt) c.1878 by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-231168).jpg "Margaret Milligan Sloan, 1893 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children Playing with a Cat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Reading the Newspaper, No.2 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of Anne Charlotte Gaillard 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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 - (MeisterDrucke-272365).jpg "Sarah Looking Left, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Boy by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Box by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother Playing with Child, c.1897 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Bath: Two Mothers and Their Children in a Boat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Loge by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Reine Lefebvre Holding a Nude Baby 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 "Lydia Seated on a Porch, Crocheting by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Conservatory by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Young Girl by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Denise at Her Dressing Table by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Coiffure by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-368567).jpg "Mother Rose Nursing Her Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Mother About to Wash Her Sleepy Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Kneeling in an Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Reading Le Figaro by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Sara with Her Dog in an Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Sarah with the Baby, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Coiffure by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Loge by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for \"Standing Nude\" by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Toreador by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Loge by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1251321).jpg "The Corner of the Sofa (No. 3) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child with Bangs in a Blue Dress by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the Artist")
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.jpg "On a Balcony by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Nurse and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Smiling Margot Wearing a Ruffled Bonnet 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 "The Letter by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Afternoon Tea Party by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child, 1914 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "A Woman and a Girl Driving by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Caress by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Maternity by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Black Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Dance School by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lydia Leaning on Her Arms in a Theatre Box by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman with a Fan, c. 1878-1879 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Omnibus by Mary Cassatt")
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