Focusing on the theme of media, I have chosen Mary Cassatt to exemplify the power of good influence in media.
I have been surrounded by art since I was very young. Fortunately my parents didn’t just let my obsession with Crayola coloring remain a toddlerhood hobby. They gave me access to resources that I realize more and more were invaluable to me becoming an artist. I grew up in the D.C. area, which introduced me to culture, history, and some of the greatest art in the world.
When I was about seven years old my second grade art teacher took us to the National Gallery. I can remember how I felt inside the airy museum and I can remember how the light flooded in through the tall ceiling roof in a calm and reverent way. It’s a place that I try to be in as often as I can, and I never regret a moment spent there. It was on that same trip that I met my first few Mary Cassatt paintings. I just liked her and all of her work. I’m sure that as a seven year-old I liked to see the girls in her paintings. They wore dresses and played on the beach and did every day stuff that I could relate to. I think she saw her world similarly to how I see mine.
From that point on Mary Cassatt stuck with me. I didn’t realize until much recently, that all of the aspects of her work that I love actually made Cassatt’s paintings quite innovative for her time period. She depicted women and families in a different light than was and is often typical; placing them in everyday scenes and capturing small moments that are often overlooked. In comparison, so many pieces of art that were created previous to Cassatt depicted figures who were stoic, grande or mythological, but she was able to create this feeling of nostalgia in her works and she gave women a real voice. She showed them as real people with personality and diversity instead of the pretty little women garbed in satin.
Mary Cassatt was an American born artist who fell in love with art when she was very young. She was determined to make a career in a difficult field where very few women were highly recognized, but to aspire to have a serious career in her time was a rarity in itself. She was able to study in France and became friends with Edgar Degas who introduced her into the society of the other Impressionist artists.
Not only did Cassatt achieve respect as a female artist, but she was an artist in an innovative and revolutionary style and is now known internationally for her art. The impressionists broke away from realism, and they began to paint the emotions and impressions of the scenes and landscapes that they saw. While there are many today who love Monet’s "Water Lilies," Degas’s dancers and Cassatt’s "La Toilette," the reaction from the art world in their time was discouraging. In Impressionists and Their Art Russell Ash says, “Works by Monet, Manet, Renior, Pissaro, and Sisley went for disastrously low prices. . . .”
Aside from the art history lesson, I really admire each of these artists, and Mary Cassatt especially, for taking on these challenges. I think that she is an amazing figure from history who shows us that we can overcome trials, we can do what we love if we try hard enough and we can make a positive impact in the world and in the media. The Impressionists not only made beautiful and uplifting works, but they also created art that changed the way people perceived the world and they opened up new ways of expression.
We can be swallowed up in media—whether it is in the salons of 19th century Paris or the television and social media of the 21st century—but we don’t have to be. We can find ways to utilize media for our benefit and we can make a difference in the media by creating new and uplifting art, stories, movies and music. We can also make a difference by simply promoting good media and not supporting the media that demeans us, not only as women but as citizens of the world. If our great predecessors like Mary Cassatt can do it, so can we!
Article and Illustration by Normandie Luscher