2025
January 2025
Mary Cassatt Exhibition
SF Art Museum, Legion of Honor
San Francisco, California
Mary Cassatt paintings are full of character. Her beautiful works of art reflect the personality and depth of her own character. All are full of emotions, dignity and characters. It was quite obvious that viewers were fascinated and captivated by her paintings. They demonstrate her talent and her perception of reality. The composition of colors are serene. Cassatt’s paintings communicate directly to each viewer: stirring up their emotions first, then assisting them to reach the stage of delicious calmness and finally to deep understanding of the uniquely artistic messages of Mary Cassatt.
Mary Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania, the US in 1844 and she lived most of her adult life in France. Her mother, Katherine Cassatt had an enormous influence on her, a very cultured lady, very well-read indeed. One of the close friends of the family, Havemeyer, once said : “Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Mary Cassatt’s mother would know at once that it was from her and her alone that (Mary) inherited her ability.” Mary was a close friend of Edgar Degas, the famous French painter. She was the most celebrated female artist of her time. Also Cassatt was a student of the master painter: Jean Léon Gérôme. Cassatt was one of the first female American painters to exhibit in Paris. Over the period of 50 years, she created over 380 pastels and 330 paintings.
In 1874, Cassatt opened an art studio in Paris. Mary Cassatt was a woman of integrity; she was very independent and outspoken. She criticized the politics of the Salon that some painters with connections could receive some favors from the jury. She criticized the connection-based criteria and she herself was after merit-based approaches. Her outspokenness costed her the refusal of her paintings for some exhibitions. She was at the low point of her career that Degas who was impressed by her character and her artistic talent, invited her to exhibit in the Impressionist Exhibition. They became close friends and had the similar tastes in the arts and literature and both were fiercely independent, also both were fascinated by the Italian paintings. After the impressionist exhibition, she was so happy and declared: “At last, I could work with absolute independence.”
Cassatt’s parents and her sister joined her in Paris and she made several fantastic portraits of them. Her intelligent mother who believed in the importance of the cultivating the intellectual abilities of women was painted while she was reading Le Figaro and some works of literature. Mary Cassatt’s paintings had been focused on the importance of deeper understanding of inner life. She portrayed the love and intensity of the mother and child relationships, although she never had a child, but she had the pure emotions, mind power and intellect to understand beautiful and meaningful relationships. So as the result her paintings were and still are very appealing to the viewers.
Cassatt’ paintings of mother & child were often reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance depictions of Madonna and Child. After 1900, she exclusively worked on the depictions of the mother & child imagery. In 1904, France awarded her the Legion of Honor for her contribution to the arts. She was one of the rare souls who had deep understanding of the human nature, exceptionally artistic talent and strong character and integrity. Her works of arts continues to captivate the hearts and minds of people.(C)CTR Press
