Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Wonderful Female Painters
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Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878)
Mary Cassatt is credited with popularizing Impressionism in the United States and, in fact, is the only artist from that country to exhibit with the Impressionists in Paris.
Edgar Degas recognized her talent and invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists when they were doing it in a rebellious and independent way since they had been rejected by “official art.”
As we read her biography, we discover that she experienced, as did other artists of her time, the difficulties that existed in those years for a woman to be accepted as a true artist and not as an amateur.
Her work is characterized by everyday, domestic, intimate moments where the protagonists are usually women, often mothers with their children.
We can see in this work the loose impressionist brushstrokes used to create an atmosphere where ambient light is crucial. We also see how she composes the colors, which are not uniform but a mixture of tones that combine in the eye of the viewer. We also see the influence of Degas in her color palette and the incipient influence of Japanese printmaking in the sharp, well-delineated outline.
Mary Cassatt was a woman who conquered the world by painting women at home. But she did it without low blows, with more elegance than sentimentality, with more dignity and strength than syrupy romanticism. She had the ability to give a lot of humanity to the human figure.
Recommended links:
Intimist and Maternal Impressionism of Mary Cassatt.
Characteristic Elements of Impressionist Painting.
Timeline: from Neoclassicism till the end of the 19th century.
The First Impressionist Exhibition (1874).
Fundamental Paintings to Understand the History of Painting: Impression, Sunrise.
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