Mary Cassatt: The Only American Impressionist

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) was an American painter and printmaker who became the only American to fully integrate with the French Impressionists. Born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before moving to Paris in 1866. Despite her family's opposition, she trained under Jean-Léon Gérôme and copied masterpieces at the Louvre. In 1877, Edgar Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists, leading to iconic works like Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878). Cassatt's signature subjects were women and mothers with children, rendered with bright colors and precise drawing. She also produced a series of colored prints inspired by Japanese art in 1891. Cassatt advised major collectors like Louisine Havemeyer, helping bring Impressionist works to American museums. She exhibited in the US through dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and influenced young artists like Lucy A. Bacon. France awarded her the Legion of Honour in 1904. After 1914, blindness forced her to stop painting, but she supported the suffragette movement, showing 18 works in a 1915 exhibition. Cassatt died on June 14, 1926, at Chateau de Beaufresne, France.