Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh, into a wealthy family. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, but wanting more serious training, she moved to Europe in 1866, copying paintings in museums and studying privately in Paris. Women could not then enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts. Her work was accepted at the official Paris Salon, but she grew frustrated with its rules. In 1877 Edgar Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists, and she was the only American to do so. She painted the everyday lives of women: drinking tea, reading, and above all caring for children, painted with tenderness but without sentimentality. Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, she made a celebrated series of color prints in 1891. She also advised wealthy American collectors such as the Havemeyers to buy Impressionist and old master paintings, helping bring great European art to American museums. She supported the movement for women's right to vote. Failing eyesight, caused by diabetes and cataracts, ended her painting around 1914. She died at her country home near Paris in 1926.

Faith: Faith not well documented. Source: Wikipedia