Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) was an American painter and printmaker, born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, then moved to Paris in 1866, and spent most of her adult life in France. A painting of hers was accepted by the Salon in 1868. Edgar Degas invited her to show with the Impressionists, and she became the only American officially associated with the group. Cassatt concentrated on the private lives of women and on the relationship between mothers and children, working in oil, pastel and printmaking. Among her well-known works are Reading Le Figaro (1878), Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) and The Pink Sash (1898). She also advised American collectors, notably the Havemeyer family, on purchases of European art. France awarded her the Légion d'honneur in 1904. Cataracts left her nearly blind after 1914, and she died near Paris in 1926.