Mary Cassatt's Uncoventional Women
In 1913, the impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was declared to be “the painter of mothers and children”, a title that would redefine her once provocative career as sentimental. Since then, the art of her quite radical feminist has been repeatedly miscast as maudlin. This lecture uses current research into Cassatt that reclaims her rebelliousness and it looks the actual lives of the women and children she painted rather than what nostalgia imagines them to be. There will be an overview of Cassatt’s life and career, why she intentionally chose unconventional subjects and how she was received by her peers, the Independents (aka the Impressionists). As we look at Cassatt we will also learn about the lives of middle class women in late 19th century Paris, giving fresh insight into impressionist art and how it challenged the conventional appearance of women at the time.
Sarah Jaffray
Sarah is an art historian, educator, curator and writer based in London.
Before her current position as head of art history at City Lit, London's largest adult education college, Sarah was a curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. For six years, she was the lead educator for the Bridget Riley Art Foundation and has also worked at Wellcome Collection exploring the connections of art, medicine and human experience. Prior to relocating to London for family, she was as a tenured professor of Art History based in Los Angeles. Sarah has been an art history lecturer since 2003.