Cummer Resources

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is committed to engage and inspire through the arts, gardens and education. A permanent collection of nearly 5,000 works of art on a riverfront campus offers more than 95,000 annual visitors a truly unique experience on the First Coast. Nationally recognized education programs serve adults and children of all abilities.

Art »
Upcoming Exhibitions
Past Exhibitions
European Collection
American Collection
Meissen Porcelain Collection
Antiquities
Special Collections
Gardens »
Upper Garden
English Garden
Olmsted Garden
Italian Garden
Season Highlights
Garden Ornaments
Education »
Art Connections
Classes
Tours
Programs
For Teachers
For Kids
Docents
Get Involved »
Join the Cummer
Benefits and Levels
Membership Groups
Our Partners
Make A Donation
Volunteer Opportunities
Internships
Employment

Happy Birthday Mary Cassatt!

May

22

AP 1992.8.1- Simone in a Large Plumed Hat, Mary Cassatt, c.1903

Written by Angela Gonzalez, Curatorial Intern

Born on May 22, 1844, Mary Cassatt was the daughter of a wealthy family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although her family objected to her becoming a professional artist, Cassatt received artistic training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Frustrated by the  slow pace of the curriculum and inadequate classes for women artists, Cassatt decided to move to Paris where she remained as an expatriate artist for more than forty years. She began private art lessons in the Louvre, where she would study and copy the old masters. At the age of 28, Cassatt’s works were accepted into the Paris Salon.

While many of her Impressionist contemporaries were consumed with artworks that displayed landscapes or street scenes, Cassatt chose to devote her compositions to intimate scenes between mothers and their children and portraits. She experimented with variety of mediums like paints, pastels and prints. Cassatt is well known for her use of pastels which allowed her to create subtle variations of color and texture. Simone in a Large Plumed Hat, part of The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens permanent collection, is a warming image of a golden haired child holding a small dog. The work is influenced by Cassatt’s fascination with Japanese woodblock prints. It is a counterproof, which is created by pressing a damp piece of paper against a pastel drawing.

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Post Author

This post was written by who has written 153 posts on The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

Comments are closed.