Woman of the Week: Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was an Impressionist painter in the 1870s. The fact that she was a female painter was unheard of! Mary Cassatt was one of the few women of the nineteenth century to work as a professional artist.

By Emma Bartley

Mary Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Her father was a successful stockbroker and her mother came from a banking family, so she was born into a fairly wealthy family. Mary was one of seven children in her family.

Cassatt grew up in an environment where education was important; she spent five years in Europe, where she learned German and French. She also had her first lessons in drawing and music while in Europe.

Her family did not want her to become a professional artist, but she still began to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the age of fifteen.

However, Cassatt ended her studies because women were being discriminated against. Females at the school could not use live models to paint! She moved to Paris in 1866, where she studied privately with masters.

She returned to the United States in 1870. Her father would not pay for her art supplies, but did provide for her basic needs. Cassatt struggled to find people to purchase her art. She considered giving up art, because she wanted to make her own money. Shortly after, however, the Archbishop of Pittsburgh took interest in her art and commissioned her to paint two works.

Still, Mary struggled to earn money. Because she was a woman, her paintings were not bought. She felt very confined, so she began to experiment artistically. She used bright colors and was very accurate with how she depicted people. She painted mostly women in everyday settings, especially mothers with their children.

Diabetes slowly took away her vision, so she could no longer paint. She died on June 14, 1926, in France, but her art lives on.

Here is some of her artwork!