Maternal Caress, 1896. Oil on canvas, 15 × 21 1/4 in. (38.1 × 54 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art: Bequest of Aaron E. Carpenter, 1970-75-2
On view from May 18 through September 8, 2024, this exhibition brings together over 130 works and rarely seen personal correspondence, illuminating Cassatt’s six-decade-long career investigating the interconnections of gender, labor, and agency, which has not yet been deeply explored.
Born in Pennsylvania, Cassatt, who was the only American member of the French Impressionist movement, developed a remarkable practice depicting the social, intellectual, domestic, and working lives of modern women. Making a living by her art in a rapidly modernizing world, Cassatt’s work represented both commercial opportunity and a vital means of self-definition. “Oh the dignity of work, give me the chance of earning my own living, five francs a day and self-respect,” she wrote to her friend, the collector Louisine Havemeyer.
A Goodnight Hug, 1880. Pastel on brown paper laid down on board, 16 9/16 x 24 3/4 in. (42 x 62.8 cm)
While the artist is best known for her depictions of women and children, this exhibition highlights Cassatt’s subtle and often overlooked observation of the invisible work particular to the domestic and social spaces inhabited by her female subjects. These women––occupied with caregiving, childrearing, handcraft, teaching, or performing social labor––offer impressions of work, inflected by gender, that combine sensitivity and frankness. The exhibition explores Cassatt’s tender yet unidealized iconography of care work and her interest in the social conditions of the modern woman, developed in pastel, print, and paint.
Mary Cassatt at Work presents Cassatt’s own professional processes in relation to the socially invisible labors she depicted. Drawing on research into the PMA’s significant Cassatt holdings, the exhibition presents new findings about Cassatt’s methods and technical innovation to illuminate the material labors of an artist for whom art and work were inextricable. Ranging from her experimental print-making practice to delicate light-sensitive pastels, it shows Cassatt’s evolving artistic production and demonstrates her commitment to what she described as the “serious” work of artmaking.
In the Loge, 1879. Pastel with gold metallic paint on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs Sargent McKean, 1950-52-1
“Art was Mary Cassatt’s life’s purpose and living,” said Sasha Suda, the George D. Widener Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “This exhibition focuses on Cassatt’s professionalism, her biography, and the wider Parisian world she inhabited. It’s my hope that this exhibition will reshape contemporary conversations about gender, work, and artistic agency.”
“We hope visitors come away with a sense of who Cassatt was and how carefully she constructed her identity as a working artist,” said curators Jennifer A. Thompson, The Gloria and Jack Drosdick Curator of European Painting and Sculpture and Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection, and Laurel Garber, The Park Family Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings. “With this exhibition, we’ve sought to reexamine the full breadth of Cassatt’s art through the lens of her creative enterprise and draw attention to her commitment to ceaseless experimentation and bold techniques."
Mary Cassatt at Work features works from the extensive Philadelphia Museum of Art collections, including some of Cassatt’s most celebrated paintings and prints, as well as loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and various private collections. A multimedia tour is also available, featuring audio, images, and videos, as well as a fully illustrated catalogue. Following its run at the PMA, Mary Cassatt at Work will travel to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor.
Woman at Her Toilette, c. 1891. Oil on canvas, approx. 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm) Private Collection
Support:
Mary Cassatt at Work is made possible by the Kathleen C. and John J. F. Sherrerd Fund for Exhibitions; Lois G. and Julian A. Brodsky Installation and Exhibition Fund; Donna and Marvin Schwartz, with Waqas Wajahat, in honor of Timothy Rub; Gloria and Jack Drosdick Fund for Special Exhibitions; Harriet and Ronald Lassin Fund for Special Exhibitions; Laura and William C. Buck Endowment for Exhibitions; Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Fund for Exhibitions; Mr. and Mrs. S. Matthews V. Hamilton, Jr.; The Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation; Samuel Everett Snider; Robbi and Bruce Toll; an anonymous donor; and other generous donors.
Sponsored by:
Funding for the catalogue is generously provided by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art and The Park Family.
About the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a national and international destination for art, but first, we are Philadelphia’s Museum of Art—for all the many diverse communities of the city. Through our collections, exhibitions, events, educational activities, celebrations, and more, the PMA is a storyteller, and we welcome everyone to be part of the story—our doors are wide open. To learn more, visit www.philamuseum.org.