Mary Stevenson Cassatt Painting Reproductions 3 of 5

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was one of the few women painters involved in the Impressionisfmovement. The daughter of a Pittsburgh banker, she came to Paris in 1866 to study art and exhibited her gentle portraits at the official Salon (1872-76). It was here that she was first noticed by Degas in 1874: "There is someone who thinks like me", he remarked. The admiration was mutual and in 1877, when he asked her to exhibit her work at the fourth Impressionist exhibition of 1879, she accepted eagerly. A warm friendship grew between the two artists, with Degas assuming the role of teacher. Images of women and children are the central theme in Cassatt's work. Vie delicate colour and lighting of hers portraits give the paintings its immediate appeal, and are characteristic of all her pictures.