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 "Reclining Nude 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 "Lilacs in a Window 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 "Young Mother Sewing 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 "The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Mother in Purple Holding her Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren, 1888 by Mary Cassatt")
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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 "Under the Lamp by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Bill Lying on his Mothers Lap by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for \"Standing Nude\" by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Maternal Caress by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-196605).jpg "The Barefooted Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Susan on a Balcony Holding a Dog by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lady in Black, in a Loge, Facing Right by Mary Cassatt")
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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 "The Pedicure by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Baby Charles, 1900 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Madame Gaillard and Her Daughter Marie-Thérèse by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Jules Being Dried by His Mother by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Sarah with the Baby, 1901 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Bath (verso), 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Robert Seated, Facing Left by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Boy by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother")
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.jpg "Reading the Newspaper, No. 2 by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-323470).jpg "The Lamp, 1891 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Child with Red Hat by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Afternoon Promenade, c. 1881 by Mary Cassatt")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-648412).jpg "Under the Horse-Chestnut Tree, 1896-97 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Knitting in the Library, c. 1881 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of Mlle C. Lydia Cassatt, 1880 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Under the Horse Chestnut Tree, 1896-1897 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Lamp by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of Alexander J. Cassatt by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Caress by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Bath by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "The Bath by Mary Cassatt")
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_recto_-_(MeisterDrucke-1219438).jpg "In the Opera Box (No. 3) 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 "By Tram by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "A Portrait of the Artist")
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.jpg "Under the Horse-Chestnut Tree by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child before a Pool by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Profile of a Woman Wearing a Jabot by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Corner of the Sofa, No. 3 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Fitting by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Child")
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.jpg "Woman Leaning over Baby by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lydia Seated on a Porch, Crocheting by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Opera Box, No. 3 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Lamp by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother Louise Holding Up Her Blue-Eyed Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Parrot by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "In the Omnibus, 1890-91 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Portrait of Marie-Therese Gaillard 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 "The Coiffure by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Little Girl in a Redcurrant Dress by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Afternoon Tea Party by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Afternoon Tea Party by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Peasant Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Lamp by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "After the Bullfight 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 "Child")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1337458).jpg "Margot Wearing a Bonnet (No. 1) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Banjo Lesson by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-589140).jpg "The Fitting by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Visit by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Woman with Nude Boy at Her Left by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Children Playing with a Dog 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 "Smiling Margot Wearing a Ruffled Bonnet by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Drawing for Standing Nude by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Barefooted Child, c.1896 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "The Fitting (recto) by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Lydia and Her Mother at Tea by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Afternoon Tea Party, 1890-1891 by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Hélène of Septeuil by Mary Cassatt")
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.jpg "Maternal Caress by Mary Cassatt")
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