Mary Cassatt

Happy Birthday Mary Cassatt!! One of the few women Impressionists, Cassatt was born in America in 1844. Her father was a banker and was not impressed with her desire to become a painter. She studied in Paris and became part of the circle of Impressionist artists including Manet, Monet, Degas and Renoir. She slowly went blind, an artist's nightmare, and was fully blind by her death in 1926. Cassatt, like other Impressionists was greatly influenced by Japanese prints as evidenced in the bold, flat shapes in the Boating Party.