Mary Cassatt Research Paper

Mary Cassatt was an impressionist painter, born in America in 1844. She later decides to move to France however to pursue for career and makes it her permanent home in 1875. This allowed her to be more exposed to other artists, such as Edgar Degas who she highly admired. Thus his works inspired and influenced Mary’s use of mediums in her own artworks. This can be seen within various works such as the Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, Sleepy Baby and Maternal cares. Through these we can see how her exposure to other artists helped her in expanding her horizons, with her use of formal elements.

Mary Cassatt’s oil on canvas ‘Little Girl in a Blue Armchair’, made from the years 1844-1926, shows a young girl who looks very tired and relaxed, slouching
The attire of her hair suggest that she is hardworking and very dependable. This gives the viewer an insight of what it takes to be a becoming of age young mother, who has the bear with the obstacles of bringing a baby in the world. Her young age suggest that although she's young she's taking on the responsibilities of what it take to be mother. From this I believe that Mary was trying to portray the message that some point or another people need to learn when to grow up and take their own responsibilities and be mature in situations, especially when it comes to putting another's needs before yourself for their own well being. However at times the reward for growing up is priceless. In this artwork, the sleepy baby takes in the mother's comfort, who only wishes for her own baby’s good health and happiness.

From this artwork we can see that Mary is in fact an impressionist as seen that use of colour, although the artwork again has a very limited colour palette. We can see that the richness of colour in the shadows of blue gives off the effect of giving the viewer a sense freshness when