A Mandoline Prayer By Mary Cassatt And The Impressionist Movement

Mary Cassatt was an American artist who worked mainly in Europe, and was affiliated with the Impressionist movement. She is most popular for her paintings of women and children in everyday settings.Because of her involvement with the Impressionists, she received a lot of criticism - mainly for her vibrant colors and unflattering accuracy with which she painted her subjects. She is an inspiring artist because of how she overcame every obstacle in her way to become on artist. She didn’t like her unsupportive family or critical viewers stop her from doing what she loved. She left us with beautiful paintings that show the true nature of women rather than just their beauty and good looks. Mary Cassatt was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania on …show more content…
Her piece The Mandolin Prayer was her first popular piece, the one that was showcased with the Salon in 1868. It shows a girl playing the mandolin, and is an example of her work prior to her encounter with the Impressionists. It has a dark brown background, a rarity for her since she usually worked with such bright colors. The girl is wearing red, white, and blue, which could be seen as the colors of her initial home, America, or her second home, France. It is a more traditional piece and is associated with the Romanticism style. (thefamousartists.com, “A Mandoline Prayer by Mary …show more content…
The theater also had bright lights, which was especially appealing to the Impressionists. An example of one of her later pieces is The Coiffure. It depicts a woman sitting in an armchair, fixing her hair. This piece shows how Japanese art influenced some of her later pieces. The colors are still light, but aren’t as bold or vibrant during her Impressionist stage. Although the woman is somewhat exposed in this piece, she isn’t being sexualized. Her body isn’t as detailed as some of the other things in the room, like the chair, carpet and wallpaper. (Kalid, “Cassatt, The Coiffure”) (mfra.org, “In the Loge”) In conclusion, Mary Cassatt was a great artist because of the way she portrayed the women in her paintings. Rather than using them as a object of beauty, she showed more than just their looks. She showed their lives, and how caring and loving they can be. She wasn’t afraid to be different, and never changed herself to conform to anyone else’s idea of art. She followed her own style and experimented to find what was right for her. Her legacy left us not only with amazing paintings but the inspiration to be ourselves and find our own unique