Cassette, mary stevenson

Cassette was born in Allegheny , Pennsylvania , which is currently part of Pittsburgh . Her father, Robert S. Casssett , was a successful stockbroker, and her mother, Catherine Johnston Kelso , was from a family of bankers . Mary Cassette grew up in a family where traveling abroad was considered an integral part of education; At the age of ten she has already visited many European capitals, including London , Paris , Darmstadt and Berlin .

Although Mary's family objected to her desire to become a professional artist, she began to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia ( 1861 - 1865 ). Intolerant to the slow pace of learning and patronizing attitude on the part of the male half of students and teachers, she decided to continue studying on her own, and in 1866 she moved to Paris .

Returning to the United States at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War , Cassette lived with her family, but at that time it was difficult to find sponsors in a small town to support her painting and painting models. Her father continued to resist her chosen craft and paid only for her basic necessities of life. She returned to Europe in 1871 , when the Archbishop of Pittsburgh instructed her to make copies of paintings in Italy, after which she was able to travel freely throughout Europe.

After self-study in major European museums, her style became more mature by 1872 , and in Paris she studied painting with Camille Pizarro .

In 1872, the jury of the Paris Salon admitted to display its first canvas. Critics have argued that the colors of her canvases are too bright, and that her portraits are too accurate to fit the original.

Seeing the pastels of Edgar Degas in the window of the painting shop, she realized that she was not alone in her rebellion against the Salon. “I had to go and press my nose to the window in order to absorb everything I could from his painting,” she wrote to a friend. “It changed my life. I saw art as I wanted to see it. ” She met with Degas in 1874 , he invited her to participate in the Impressionist exhibition, and her works were exhibited at the exhibition in 1879 .

An active member of the Impressionist movement until 1886 , she remained a friend of Degas and Bertha Morisot. Like Degas, Cassatt became extremely adept at using pastels, ultimately performing many of her canvases in this technique.

Shortly after the first successes of the Impressionists, Cassat left her painting to care for her mother and sister, who fell ill after moving to Paris in 1877 . Her sister passed away in 1882 , but her mother recovered, and Cassett resumed painting in the mid- 1880s .

Her style has changed, and she moved away from impressionism to a simpler, more direct style. From 1886 , she no longer identified herself with any movement and tried various styles. A series of strictly written, subtly noticed, not sentimental pictures of mother and child is the main theme of her most famous works.

In 1891 she exhibited a series of highly original color lithographs, including “Bathing” and “Hairstyle”, inspired by the works of Japanese masters shown in Paris the year before.

The 1890s were for Kessett the most lively and creative period in her life. She was imitated by young American artists who needed her advice and support. Among them was Lucy A. Bacon , whom Cassette introduced to Camille Pissarro . At the beginning of the 20th century, she worked as a consultant for large collectors of works of art and in many respects helped them to transfer their collections to American museums of fine arts. Recognition of her own work in the United States has been slow.

In 1906 , Mary Casssett’s brother, Alexander Casssett (chairman of the Pennsylvania Railways), died. After the death of her brother, she did not take the brush in his hands until 1912 .

During a trip to Egypt in 1910, Mary Cassette was amazed at the beauty of this ancient country. With diagnoses of diabetes , rheumatism , neuralgia , cataracts , set to her in 1911 , she did not leave the painting, but after 1914 Cassette still had to stop writing, since she was almost blind. Nevertheless, she continued to actively participate in the movement for women's electoral rights, and in 1915, she showed eighteen of her works at an exhibition in support of the movement.

In recognition of her contribution to art, in 1904 she received the Legion of Honor . Mary Casssett died on June 14, 1926 at Chateau de Beaufins, near Paris, and was buried in a family crypt.

In 2005 , her paintings were sold for 2.87 million dollars.

On May 22, 2009, in honor of the birthday of Mary Casssett , the Google website changed its homepage, where it placed the inscription “Google” with a fragment of her painting “Bathing” ( 1893 ).

• Some work
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  Cup of tea

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  Lady at the tea table

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  Baby bathing

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  Mother and Child (Oval Mirror)

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  Young mother is sewing

• Memory
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  House in Paris on rue de Marinian, where she lived from 1887 until her death

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  10, rue de Marignan
  Memorial plaque

• Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Mary Cassatt: A Life. - New York: Villard Books, 1994. - ISBN 978-0-394-58497-3 .
• Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Mary Cassatt: A Life . - New Haven: Yale University Press , 1998. - ISBN 978-0-585-36794-1 .
• McKown, Robin. The World of Mary Cassatt. - New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1972. - ISBN 978-0-690-90274-7 .
• Kloss, William. Treasures from the National Museum of American Art. - Washington: National Museum of American Art, 1985. - ISBN 978-0-87474-594-8 .
• Pollock, Griselda. Looking back to the Future / Griselda Pollock, Penny Florence. - Amsterdam: G + B Arts International, 2001. - ISBN 978-90-5701-122-1 .
• Pollock, Griselda. Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children // Reading American Art . - New Haven, 1998. - ISBN 978-0-300-07348-5 .
• Shackelford, George TM Pas de Deux: Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas // Mary Cassatt, modern woman / organized by Judith A. Barter; with contributions by Erica E. Hirshler ... [et al.] .. - New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998. - P. 109–43. - ISBN 0810940892 .

• Mary Cassat