Mary Cassat was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France. She followed a style of painting known as the Impressionist Style, and her paintings reflected the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children.
Mary Cassat’s favorite subjects became children and women with children in ordinary scenes. Her paintings express a deep tenderness, and her own love for children. But she never had children of her own. Her big breakthrough came in 1892, when she received a commission for a mural for the Woman’s Building at the Chicago World’s Fair. Sadly, the mural painting got lost after the fair, and has not shown up until today.
Mary Cassatt was also an excellent printmaker. From 1890 to 1891, she made a series of ten colour prints, known as ‘The Ten’. This series is considered as a landmark in Impressionist printmaking. She continued to make prints until 1896. It was tragic that, this woman who loved colours and beauty should have poor eyesight- in fact, when she died at the age of 82, she was completely blind.
