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ARTIST HERO:
MARY CASSATT
by Claire from New York
It was in America when Mary Cassatt decided she was going to be an artist. Now in the 1880s, women, especially American women, were not thought to be artists, so Cassatt had to do some begging to get Mr. Cassatt to send her to art school. He finally sent her to the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts for four years. When she was in school, some of her peers did not want her there; they did not accept her as a colleague. After school ended, she had a hard time getting anyone to teach her more, so she went to Paris, France, and taught herself by copying works of art in the museums.
"I would rather see you dead!” That’s what Mr. Cassatt said when he was informed that his daughter wanted to go to an art school. Her father and society didn’t accept American women as true artists, no matter how good their artworks were. Another challenge came when she had to make the difficult decision between painting the way judges at a museum liked it, or going along with a group of artists who liked to paint their own impressions of things. These artists were called “Impressionists” because their works left people with a feeling. Their paintings weren’t meant to look like photographs. Some famous “Impressionists” were Monet, Edgar Degas and, of course, Mary Cassatt.
Even though Cassatt loved pleasing everyone, that meant not painting, and she could not do that. She was also very determined when she had trouble getting into schools. When people said her artwork was not good, she was confident; she liked the way she painted, so she continued painting in that style. When her father said, "No," to art school, she persevered until she was sitting in that seat to become what she wanted to become. One of Cassatt’s greatest accomplishments was a mural she was commissioned to do for the women’s building at the Chicago World’s Fair. In addition to filling the world with her beautiful paintings of children, mothers, love, and kindness, Cassatt made people realize that it didn’t matter whether a woman or man painted it, good artwork is good artwork. For these reasons Mary Cassatt is a true hero!
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Written by
Claire from New York
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Mary Cassatt Metropolitan Museum Mary Cassatt Gallery Notes on Mary Cassatt Mary Cassatt Literature Mary Cassatt Web Museum Paris |
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Last changed on:4/9/2009 5:43:42 PM
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