Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) was the most celebrated and innovative female artist of her time and the only American to exhibit with the renowned Impressionist group of French painters. She was born in Pittsburgh, studied in Philadelphia, then journeyed abroad to continue her art studies in Europe. Invited into the Impressionists by Edgar Degas, who saw her as a kindred spirit, Cassatt became a supportive participant in the group’s campaign to circumvent the French Salon system by showing their work independently, without juries or awards.

For Degas, Cassatt and her sister Lydia posed for genre scenes of a feminine world—trips to the milliners, the Louvre, and other places. In her own work, Cassatt portrayed scenes of her everyday expatriate life in Paris—genteel depictions of ladies at tea, at the theater, reading, and sewing.  After Lydia’s death, Cassatt’s subject matter turned to domestic scenes of maternity, with mothers and children becoming the focus in the latter half of her life. Cassatt was admired for her painting, printmaking, and pastels and served as an important art advisor to wealthy Americans building modern art collections—which now grace art museums in the United States.

In a richly illustrated program, art historian Bonita Billman examines the range of Cassatt’s oeuvre and the media she used in her work; her role as an organizer of the Impressionist group’s exhibitions; and her emphasis on scenes of women and children as her own family dynamics changed.

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