Quotes

Mary Cassatt was a strong character who fought against the social norms of her time in order to achieve considerable success as an artist. Here we delve into her character, with a series of quotes from his lifetime.

Famous Quotes by Mary Cassatt

At some future time I shall see New York the artist's ground. I think you will create an American School.

A woman artist must be .. capable of making the primary sacrifices.

Cezanne is one of the most liberal artists I have ever seen... he grants that everyone may be as honest and as true to nature from their convictions; he doesn't believe that everyone should see alike.

How well I remember nearly forty years ago seeing for the first time Degas’s pastels in the window of a picture dealer in the Boulevard Haussman. I would go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art. It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.

I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work.

I had already recognized who were my true masters. I admired Manet, Courbet and Degas. I hated conventional art - I began to live.

I have had a joy from which no one can rob me — I have been able to touch some people with my art.

I have touched with a sense of art some people - they felt the love and the life. Can you offer me anything to compare that to the joy for an artist?

If painting is no longer needed, it seems a pity that some of us are born into the world with such a passion for line and color.

It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.

I think that if you shake the tree, you ought to be around when the fruit falls to pick it up.

It is as well not to have too great an admiration for your master's work. You will be in less danger of imitating him.

I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art. It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.

Most women paint as though they are trimming hats. Not you.

Sometimes it made him [Degas] furious that he could not find a chink in my armor, and there would be months when we just could not see each other, and then something I painted would bring us together again.

The first sight of Degas' pictures was the turning point of my artistic life.

There are two ways for a painter: the broad and easy one or the narrow and hard one.

There's only one thing in life for a woman; it's to be a mother... A woman artist must be... capable of making primary sacrifices.

Why do people so love to wander? I think the civilized parts of the world will suffice for me in the future.

Women should be someone and not something.

World will suffice for me in the future.

Quotes about Mary Cassatt by Art Critics and Fellow Artists

Mary Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker, who boldly rebelled against the expectations set for her as a woman in the 19th century and travelled to Europe to find her independence as a professional artist. She made her name as an Impressionist, renowned for her intimate depictions of women, particularly mothers and children, and for her insight into the female inner life. Get to know her a little better, with these 10 facts you might not know about her.

Cassatt's work combined the light color palette and loose brushwork of Impressionism with compositions influenced by Japanese art as well as by European Old Masters, and she worked in a variety of media throughout her career. This versatility helped to establish her professional success at a time when very few women were regarded as serious artists. Cassatt's art typically depicted domestic settings, the world to which she herself (as a respectable woman) was restricted, rather than the more public spaces that her male contemporaries were free to inhabit. Her material was occasionally dismissed as quintessentially "feminine," yet most critics realized that she brought considerable technical skill and psychological insight to her subject matter.

TheArtStory.org

Feminists have regarded Cassatt with ambivalence. On the one hand she is a rare example from the past of a woman who succeeded in a male-dominated field. On the other hand her portrayal of women in society could be interpreted as frivolous, while motherhood, the theme with which she is most associated, was long regarded by feminists as tantamount to enslavement.

The Irish Times

She [Mary Cassatt] has infinite talent. I remember the time we started a little magazine called 'Le Jour et La Nuit' together. I was very much interested in processes then, and had made countless experiments [in printing; Degas mainly mono-type - Mary Cassatt mainly etchings].. .You can get extraordinary results with copper; but the trouble is that there are never enough buyers to encourage you to go on with it.

Edgar Degas

M. Degas and Mlle. Cassatt are, nevertheless, the only artists who distinguish themselves.. ..and who offer some attraction and some excuse in the pretentious show of window dressing and infantile daubing.

Revue des Deux Mondes, 1879

It is absolutely necessary, while what I saw yesterday at Miss Cassatt's is still fresh in mind, to tell you [Lucien, his son] about the colored engravings she is to show at Durand-Ruel's at the same time as I. We open Saturday.. .You remember the effects you strove for at Eragny? Well, Miss Cassatt has realized just such effects, and admirably: the tone even, subtle, delicate, without stains on seams: adorable blues, fresh rose, etc.

Camille Pissarro