Happy Birthday Mary Cassatt!

It's my favorite artist, Mary Cassatt's,  birthday today!

She was born in 1884 and was a leading female in the Impressionist movement.  She was the only American included in this group.  It is her subject matter that has endeared her to me.  She paints mostly women and children/mother and child.  Here is my favorite - "The Bath" from 1892.  I have it as a magnet on my refrigerator.

Every city I visit, I look to see if there is a local museum that displays any of her work and I have two coffee table books of her work.

 Here are more reasons to love her work:  "The Reading Group" from 1901

 "Susan Comforting the Baby (No. 1)" from 1881

 "The Young Bride" from 1875

 "Mother Nursing Her Baby" from 1908

 "Young Mother Sewing" from 1902

 "Margot Embracing Her Mother" from 1902

Degas was her friend and mentor who encouraged her in her work.  She never married and was said to have lived for her work.  It's remarkable to me that she never had children because she seems to have captured the bond between mother and child in every one of her paintings.  The love seems to radiate from her paintings.  To see them in person is really a joy.  Happy Birthday Mary!

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