Mary Cassatt

Like a number of other wealthy American expats, Mary Cassatt will forever be associated with late-nineteenth century Paris. In 1865, while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, she convinced her parents to permit a move to France. Once there, she enrolled in the classes of various academic painters and by 1872 had begun to exhibit in the Paris Salon. Upon seeing the work of Degas, however, she fell into the orbit of the Impressionists. She learnt the art of printmaking from Degas – her skilful etchings would also draw inspiration from Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. Having developed a more distinctive personal style from the mid-1880s onwards, she went on to produce her most famous works. These were intimate depictions of mother and child captured in modern settings. As an independent ‘New Woman’, she believed passionately in the fight for female equality and remains one of the most important women painters of her time.