20 November, 2010 - 3 April, 2011

Mint Museum Randolph

Mary Cassatt's striking portrait is on view in Charlotte for the first time thanks to the generosity of Charlotte and Philip Hanes.  The only American to be invited to exhibit with the French Impressionists, Cassatt was a ground-breaking artist whose work is among the most cherished and recognizable of American artists. Also on exhibition are selected objects from the Mint Museum's permanent collection selected to compliment the portrait and illuminate the era. 

The Artist

• A short biographical profile from the National Museum of Women in the Arts
• Explore & Learn  from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• "Consider the Difference: American Women Artists from Cassatt to Contemporary" - a lecture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum by Linda Nochlin from artbabble.org.

The Painting

• Lively and engaging, the subject is likely one the sisters of Lois Buchanan Cassatt, the wife of Cassatt's brother Alexander.
• Cassatt painted Madame X at the start of her involvement with the Impressionists. Degas had asked her to exhibit with them  the preceding year.  

Fin de siècle Paris

• The Paris that Cassatt settled into in 1874 was a nexus for the beginnings of the "modern" age. The city hosted a succession of international expositions - the Exposition Universelles of 1855, 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900 - which introduced Parisians and visitors from around the world to art, decorative arts, and innovative design and technology.

The Objects

• Charles Burnett Silver Tea Service 
• The tea service depicted in Cassatt's painting The Tea is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 
• Art and Handicraft in the Woman's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893  provides the only contemporary record of Cassatt's mural created for the building. Unfortunately, the mural was lost and likely destroyed at the fair's end.
• Late 19th century apparel 

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