Mary Cassatt was an American Impressionist painter who is best known for her paintings of mothers and children. Her work is characterized by an intimate close-up perspective, as well as an interest in depicting everyday life.
Cassatt’s early life was full of challenges: she was the only child of a wealthy family, but her parents were estranged from each other and often away on business trips. She was sent to boarding school in Philadelphia in 1853 at age 11, where she began sketching and drawing to pass the time. When her father died two years later, she went to live with her mother in Paris; this experience further inspired her interest in art.
In 1874 Cassatt joined a group of artists called Les Nabis (The Prophets), who sought to bring new life into traditional painting styles by using bright colors and bold brushstrokes. This group included Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas among others; they would eventually become known collectively as Impressionists because they sought to capture a moment in time rather than a complete scene or portrait like earlier painters had done.
