Editing Mary Cassatt (section)

==Feminist viewpoints and the "New Woman"==
[[File:Mary Cassatt, Reading “Le Figaro”, 1878, Collection Mrs. Eric de Spoelberch, Haverford, Pennsylvania.jpg|thumb|''Reading "Le Figaro"'' by Mary Cassatt (1878), Collection Mrs. Eric de Spoelberch, Haverford, Pennsylvania]]

Cassatt and her contemporaries enjoyed the wave of feminism that occurred in the 1840s, allowing them access to educational institutions at newly coed colleges and universities, such as [[Oberlin College|Oberlin]] and the [[University of Michigan]]. Likewise, women's colleges such as [[Vassar College|Vassar]], [[Smith College|Smith]] and [[Wellesley College|Wellesley]] opened their doors during this time. Cassatt was an outspoken advocate for [[women's equality]], campaigning with her friends for equal travel scholarships for students in the 1860s, and the [[Suffrage|right to vote]] in the 1910s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |editor-last=Gaze |editor-first=Delia |date=1997 |title=Dictionary of women artists|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |isbn=978-1884964213|location=London|oclc=37693713|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofwome01gaze}}</ref>

Mary Cassatt depicted the "[[New Woman]]" of the 19th century from the woman's perspective. As a successful, highly trained woman artist who never married, Cassatt—like [[Ellen Day Hale]], [[Elizabeth Coffin]], [[Elizabeth Nourse]] and [[Cecilia Beaux]]—personified the "New Woman".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Museum |first1=Newark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3v_J431g_twC&pg=PA25 |title=Off the Pedestal: New Women in the Art of Homer, Chase, and Sargent |last2=Center |first2=Frick Art & Historical |date=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3697-2 |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref> She "initiated the profound beginnings in recreating the image of the 'new' woman", drawn from the influence of her intelligent and active mother, Katherine Cassatt, who believed in educating women to be knowledgeable and socially active. She is depicted in ''Reading 'Le Figaro' ''(1878).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bradway |first=Rich |date=March 29, 2013 |title=New Perspectives on Illustration: Gibson and Cassatt:Depicting the New Woman by Seo Kim - Norman Rockwell Museum - The Home for American Illustration |url=https://www.nrm.org/2013/03/new-perspectives-on-illustration-gibson-and-cassatt-depicting-the-new-woman-by-seo-kim/ |access-date=December 10, 2023 |publisher=Norman Rockwell Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>

Cassatt's independence and choice to not marry as a "New Woman" could also be seen as a reaction to the strict institutionalized misogamy of the art world at the time, in which a woman artist's marriage could have been seen as incompatible with any serious artistic career.<ref name="thecrimson.com">{{Cite web |title=Mary Cassatt: Impressions of the World Away from Men {{!}} Arts {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/column/portrait-of-a-female-artist/article/2022/9/30/Mary-Cassatt-impressionist-female-artist-column/ |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref>

Although Cassatt did not explicitly make political statements about women's rights in her work, her artistic portrayal of women was consistently done with dignity and the suggestion of a deeper, meaningful inner life.<ref name=":0" /> Many of her works depict a mother caring for a child and she painted them with warmth and attention.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weinberg |first=Authors: H. Barbara |title=Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844–1926) {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cast/hd_cast.htm |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2004 |language=en}}</ref> Unlike the other Impressionists of the time who often painted street scenes and landscapes, Cassatt preferred to depict the everyday life of women and the domestic labors associated with the home.<ref name="halifaxpubliclibraries.ca">{{Cite web |date=August 10, 2020 |title=Revolutionary Women in Art History: Mary Cassatt |url=https://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/blogs/post/revolutionary-women-in-art-history-mary-cassatt |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca |language=en-CA}}</ref> This was unusual at the time because, while Impressionist pieces typically depicted women as passive objects for the viewer, Cassatt notably made the women she painted active observers with real engagement in their environments. Cassatt's work was shaped by her time spent engaging with these women in their private intimate spaces, something that a male artist would not have had the social ability to do at that time.<ref name="thecrimson.com"/> This disconnect from what the two different genders were allowed to observe as an artist did not go unnoticed by Cassatt and she notably enjoyed observing the complexities of gender relations in her work. The piece ''"In the Loge"(1878)'' is a good example of this, as it depicts a young woman watching the opera while a male admirer gawks at her from afar. The viewer is then also included into the voyeuristic objectification of the unaware model exposing the social dynamics of the time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lesso |first=Rosie |title=Mary Cassatt: A Modern Woman |url=https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2019/07/04/mary-cassatt-a-modern-woman/ |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=the thread |language=en-US}}</ref>

By choosing to depict more humble feminine environments Cassatt effectively raised scenes of women, their labor, friendships, and personal life to be celebrated as high art.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=Bridget |date=August 17, 2020 |title=Mary Cassatt's Independent, Feminist Spirit |url=http://hyperallergic.com/583049/mary-cassatt-she-votes/ |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref> She was often critiqued for this preference and her art dismissed as too feminine.<ref name="halifaxpubliclibraries.ca"/> Cassatt objected to being stereotyped as a "woman artist", she supported [[women's suffrage]], and in 1915 showed eighteen works in an exhibition supporting the movement organised by Louisine Havemeyer, a committed and active feminist.<ref name="HyperA">{{cite web |last1=Quinn |first1=Bridget |title=Mary Cassatt's Independent, Feminist Spirit |url=https://hyperallergic.com/583049/mary-cassatt-she-votes/ |date=August 17, 2020 |publisher=Hyperalergic |access-date=August 30, 2020}}</ref> The exhibition brought her into conflict with her sister-in-law [[Gardner (Cassatt) Held by His Mother|Eugenie Carter Cassatt]], who was [[Anti-suffragism|anti-suffrage]] and who boycotted the show along with Philadelphia society in general. Cassatt responded by selling off her work that was otherwise destined for her heirs. In particular ''[[The Boating Party]]'', thought to have been inspired by the birth of Eugenie's daughter Ellen Mary, was bought by the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Mathews|1994|pp= 306–10}}<ref>{{Google books|EtXCGXMSE9oC|Mary Cassatt: A Life|page=306|plainurl=}}</ref>