Mary Cassatt painter from (1844-1926) and was born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt. Mr. Cassatt provided a comfortable lifestyle for his family as a wealthy merchant. The family lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until 1851 (Mary Cassatt 1844-1926) when Mary and her two older siblings moved with their parents to Europe until 1858. During this time they lived in Paris, France and two cities in Germany, Heidelberg and Darmstat. Mary was exposed to the art world early in life by this experience. The family then travelled back to their home in Philadelphia in 1858.
 

Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt is best known for her mother and child compositions and also for her colour prints, based on Japanese woodblock techniques and that combined drypoint, etching, and aquatint.  From 1890, she had her own printing press at her home.

Mary Cassatt was an unconventional woman in her time, not marrying or having any children of her own, but preferring to travel and live a bohemian life alone in Europe. As a woman she succeeded in the primarily male dominated world of art and became a member of the Impressionist circle. 
Cassatt attracted the attention of Edgar Degas, who invited her to join the artists dedicated to the "new painting", the Impressionists. From 1879 to 1886 she was one of only three women to exhibit with the Impressionists, and the only American woman.



Cassatt had her own subject matter, using her family members as models. Cassatt was a sensitive painter of women and the occasional male subject. She achieved her greatest success in the depiction of maternity. She exhibited with the Impressionists between 1877-1886. Cassatt admired the Realist Courbet and the Impressionist Manet but was mainly influenced by her friend Degas, who also represented her in his own scenes. As a wealthy expatriate, she had the means to devote herself to her art and used her domestic life as subject matter. She painted fashionable women who were conversing, having tea, and at outings with friends and their children. Her pictures are characterized by a spontaneity and freshness of vision which prevails in the asymmetrical and unposed figures of her oil paintings. Her drawings and prints show a personal mastery of linearism and perspective that owed much to Degas and Oriental Art. She died in 1926 in France.

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