In 1913 the impressionist artist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was declared to be 'the painter of mothers and children,' a title that would redefine her once provocative career as sentimental. Since then, the art of this quite radical feminist has been repeatedly miscast as maudlin.
In this lecture, Sarah Jaffray uses current research into Cassatt that reclaims her rebelliousness and it looks the actual lives of the women and children she painted rather than what nostalgia imagines them to be. There will be an overview of Cassatt’s life and career, why she intentionally chose unconventional subjects and how she was received by her peers, the Independents (aka the Impressionists).
As we look at Cassatt we will also learn about the lives of middle-class women in late 19th century Paris, giving fresh insight into impressionist art and how it challenged the conventional appearance of women at the time.
