Saturday, February 6, 2010

Mary Cassatt

Linda has a lovely post about the American Impressionist artist, Mary Cassatt.
Born into a prominent and wealthy family near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mary began her education at the age of six in Philadelphia where her family had moved. At the age of 15 she began to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with a determination to become a professional artist. Although her family did not agree with Mary's commitment to becoming a professional, they nevertheless did everything to support it. Her mother went with her on European tours--an obligatory part of every wealthy young American's education at the time--but in Mary's case, this meant long stays in Spain where Mary studied and copied great works in the Prado, such as those of Velasquez, in Italy where she studied the great artists of the Renaissance, and to the Netherlands, where she studied the works of the Dutch Golden Age, such as Vermeer and Rembrandt. This immersion in great classical art shows in Mary Cassatt's paintings.
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3 comments:

EC Gefroh said...

What a good post on Mary Cassatt! She is the best, IMHO.

elena maria vidal said...

She is one of my favorite impressionists.

Julygirl said...

She certainly deserves her place with the noted Frenchmen. Being a woman and an American makes it doubly remarkable that she was accepted into their lofty world.