Hennessey Fortmann
Have you ever wondered what qualifies people to be a hero? Probably not, because you say to yourself; they have to be strong, and brave, and important. But do they? Is the eight-year-old little girl who picks up the bag of groceries when her mom drops them and can’t pick them up a hero? Is the sweet regular guy who helps the little old lady cross the street a hero? I say, yes. A hero is a person who is trying to help, or who stands up for what he/she believes in no matter what! Well, I could talk all day about regular people who helped out and are now heroes, but my assignment is to talk about a hero, or should I say heroine, I’ve discovered; her name is Mary Cassatt. What’s that? You’ve never heard of Mary Cassatt? She’s the woman who changed people’s view of artists. Is she a hero? I say, absolutely!
Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on May 22 1844- June 14th …show more content…
Not surprisingly, she found the male faculty and her fellow students to be patronizing and resentful of her attendance. Cassatt also became frustrated by the curriculum's slow pace and inadequate course offerings. She decided to leave the program and move to Europe where she could study the works of the Old Masters on her own, firsthand. Despite her family's strong objections (her father declared he would rather see his daughter dead than living abroad as a "bohemian"), Mary Cassatt left for Paris in 1866. She began her study with private art lessons in the Louvre, where she would study and copy masterpieces. She continued to study and paint in relative obscurity until 1868, when one of her portraits was selected at the prestigious Paris Salon, an annual exhibition run by the French government. With her father's disapproving words echoing in her ears, Cassatt submitted the well-received painting under the name Mary