Exposition Mary Cassatt

Whistler to Cassatt Access Guide

Mary Cassatt achieved her first critical acclaim in 1868, when her Mandolin Player was accepted for that year’s Salon. Additional fame came when she debuted with the French Impressionists in their fourth group exhibition in 1879 and especially in 1893, when Galerie Durand-Ruel mounted the first major solo exhibition of her work in Paris. One critic wrote that “the French were wild over her, and half the pictures were sold when I visited the gallery.” Notwithstanding the commercial success of this exhibition, most observers focused almost solely on her choice of subject, her gender, and the colors she used. Sometimes—shockingly—in that order.

Already in 1881, Cassatt’s fascination with the theme of mother and child garnered the attention of writer and art critic, Joris-Karl Huysmans. He wrote in L’art Moderne, “Ah! Babies, my God! How their portraits have repeatedly horrified me! A whole sequel of English and French daubers painted them in such stupid and pretentious poses! For the first time, I have, thanks to Miss Cassatt, seen the effigies of ravishing youngsters, peaceful and bourgeois scenes painted with a kind of delicate tenderness, all charming.”

Black-and-white illustration of the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris, which features art hanging salon style on the walls.

The Galerie Durand-Ruel,103, rue des Petits-Champs, Paris, 2nd half 19th century.
Bridgeman Images

The Galerie Durand-Ruel

A side-profile portrait painting of Lydia Cassatt, who sits on a park bench and is wearing a shawl, bonnet, and gloves.

Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris: Donated by the artist, PPP706
Photo: Agence Bulloz. © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Profile Portrait of Lydia Cassatt
1880
Oil paint on canvas
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris: Donated by the artist, PPP706
Photo: Agence Bulloz. © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY

Mary Cassatt posed her sister Lydia in the garden of their summerhouse at Marly-Sur-Roi, about 14 miles west of Paris. Lydia came to live with Mary in 1877 and was diagnosed a year later with a kidney ailment called Bright’s disease. She increasingly spent time at their home, where Mary painted her portrait on many occasions. This is one of the first canvases Cassatt executed en plein air (outdoors). She carefully rendered Lydia’s gloved hands while painting her dress with a looseness that is rivaled only by the vivacious brushwork of the plants.

A portrait painting of a little girl with blond hair wearing a light blue bonnet and a pink and white dress.

The San Diego Museum of Art: Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett, 1938.20
Bridgeman Images

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Simone in a Blue Bonnet (No. 1)
About 1903
Oil paint on canvas
The San Diego Museum of Art: Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett, 1938.20
Bridgeman Images

A painting of a young girl in a pink dress and her mother who is holding a nude baby on her lap.

Drs. Tobia and Morton Mower
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Sara and Her Mother with the Baby (No. 3)
1901
Pastel on paper
Drs. Tobia and Morton Mower
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

111. Exposition Mary Cassatt: Overview and Mary Cassatt pair of pastels

0:00 0:00
100

Burns: These are pastels out of the hundreds of representations of mother and child scenes that Mary Cassatt made throughout her long career in France. And in part, there are ways in which the domestic space was seen as the appropriate subject matter for women artists to engage. But I think that if we look closely at Cassatt's renderings, we can see the ways in which the domestic space is sometimes dynamic or disruptive.

Narrator: Cassatt, like her friend Edgar Degas, was influenced by the flattened perspective of Japanese prints, and the way photography often cropped objects at the edges. Cassatt pushes the boundaries of conventional portraiture elsewhere, too. European and American collectors bought works like these from the new private art galleries that sprang up in late nineteenth century Paris. Such galleries often presented single-artist shows. This space, featuring only Cassatt’s work, is arranged to give the feel of just such a gallery.

206. Mary Cassatt, Baby in Dark Blue Suit, Looking over His Mother’s Shoulder, 1893-85

0:00 0:00
100

(SFX: Baby crying in the background)

Mary Cassatt (MC): Shhh...There, there dear child...there, there. We'll be done soon and you can sleep soundly in your mother’s arms.

Adele Tanner (AT): I can't believe it! It's Mary Cassatt! The Artist Mary Cassatt is here!

MC: Shhh!! You’ll wake the baby again.

AT: Ms. Mary Cassatt! Hi it is I...Adele Tanner...

MC: Adele Tanner! I heard you were writing a story about us and this exhibition! Wonderful!

AT: I heard a baby crying? Did that come from the painting?

MC: Oh yes, excuse me. He gets cranky if he hasn't had a nap.

AT: Hey Friends! What do you notice when you look at this painting? How does it make you feel? What colors really stand out to you?

MC: When I painted this portrait, I wanted to create a soothing calm image of a mother and child.

AT: I can feel the love and warmth of this painting. Look how relaxed the baby is, he looks safe with her. The mother holds him lovingly. They both look happy!

MC: Great observations Adele! You're sounding like a true artist lover!

AT: Oh, I am an avid art lover...I-I mean, art is lit- (Baby crying)

MC: Oh well, it looks like someone is cranky again. I do want to say how brave it is for you to be pursuing your dream of being a journalist. That can’t be easy for a woman with most journalists of our day being men.

AT: Oh goodness, what a compliment! I am inspired by you! Look at you daring to be an artist surrounded by mostly men. How brave you are.

MC: Well here’s to both of us for being brave! Enjoy the exhibition and thank you for stopping by and allowing me share this mother and child painting

AT: Thanks Ms. Cassatt! Friends, this place just keeps getting better and better! I'm going to have an amazing story for my article once we're done. But it's not over yet, let's head over to our next magical adventure called The Sisters!

A painting of a baby being held by his mother and looking over her shoulder.

Cincinnati Art Museum: John J. Emery Fund, 1928.222
Bridgeman Images

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Baby in Dark Blue Suit, Looking over His Mother’s Shoulder
1883–85
Oil paint on canvas
Cincinnati Art Museum: John J. Emery Fund, 1928.222
Bridgeman Images

This painting conveys not only Cassatt’s mastery of figural composition gained in her academic training in Paris, but also her willingness to join disparate influences. The close cropping and flattening of the two figures stem from her response to Japanese ukiyo-e prints. She further departed from academic tradition by leaving much of the painting unfinished, which offers us a glimpse into her working process.

Japanese print of a woman with dark, coiffed hair cradling a small baby close to her face.

Denver Art Museum: Dr. William M. Smiley Collection by exchange, 1950.

Example of a Japanese ukiyo-e print
Kitagawa Utamaro (Japan, Edo period.)
Mother and Child
late 1790
Denver Art Museum: Dr. William M. Smiley Collection by exchange, 1950.

112. Exposition Mary Cassatt: 3 pastels: Bust of Ellen with Bows in Her Hair, Patty-cake, and Clarissa, Turned Right, with Her Hand to Her Ear

0:00 0:00
100

Narrator: Dashes of pure color, some incredibly fine, others broad and almost abstract, combine to build up this enchanting pastel portrait by Mary Cassatt. Pastels were popular with collectors.

Standring: It was something between painting and drawing. It had a vibrancy that was unparalleled either by oils or by watercolors. And it had a vigorous, visceral kind of touch that you show the process of the artist unfolding before your eyes, which brings us closer to that act of creation. And I think that's what clients recognized and appreciated in artists such as Cassatt.

Narrator: The Parisian art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel nurtured many of the Impressionists’ careers. He held Cassatt’s first solo exhibition and helped her find a market both with French and American collectors. Private galleries offered an exciting new way for critics and collectors to experience an artist’s work in depth.

Burns: If you think back to that Salon hang where the paintings are quite tight in the space, this is operating very differently. Artists and dealers are encouraging patrons to look at each work individually. The scale of the pictures starts to get increasingly smaller to encourage that kind of intimate and careful looking. And in some ways we can see the decline of the Salon as the arbiter, as these other spaces where Cassatt is exhibiting for instance, start to emerge.

Narrator: Durand-Ruel expanded his operation to open a gallery in New York, capitalizing on the American audience that he’d carefully fostered in Paris.

A side-profile pastel sketch of a little girl wearing bows in her short hair.

Private collection
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Bust of Ellen with Bows in Her Hair
1898
Pastel on paper
Private collection
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

A painting of a woman looking down at the young child she is holding on her lap, who wears a white smock.

Denver Art Museum: Anonymous bequest, 1986.729
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Patty-cake
1897
Pastel on paper
Denver Art Museum: Anonymous bequest, 1986.729
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

A painting of a lounging woman wearing a pale pink dress and holding a fan.

Drs. Tobia and Morton Mower
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Clarissa, Turned Right, with Her Hand to Her Ear
1890–93
Pastel on tan wove paper
Drs. Tobia and Morton Mower
Photography courtesy Denver Art Museum

Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France is organized by the Denver Art Museum. The exhibition is supported by the Tom Taplin Jr. and Ted Taplin Endowment, the Kristin and Charles Lohmiller Exhibitions Fund, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, Kathie and Keith Finger, Lisë Gander and Andy Main, Lauren and Geoff Smart, Christie’s, the French American Museum Exchange (FRAME), the generous donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS4.