Favorites – Mary Cassatt

A simple question today. Who is your favorite artist? Oh, wait! That might look like a simple question, but it’s really not, is it! It’s not simple at all. Well, maybe the form of the question itself is simple enough, but coming up with an answer is anything but easy.

So, I’m re-phrasing, changing the topic a bit, and instead of asking about a single favorite artist, let’s just talk about artists whose work we’ve admired over the years.

I’ll start with Mary Cassatt. This American painter was my first introduction to the world of art. I’ve shared this story before, writing about how, as I child, I had a puzzle I worked each night — The Child’s Bath. I loved the painting, and even as a very young girl, I loved learning who this artist was and knowing the title of the painting.

Over the years, especially as I began learning to draw and paint and became familiar with the works of many other artists, I found other “favorites”. Again, it’s never really possible to single out only one favorite. Yet despite my admiration and affection of so many other artists, I think that if I were able to travel anywhere and see any painting anywhere in the world, I would probably choose to visit the Art Institute of Chicago to view “The Child’s Bath”. In fact, Chicago isn’t all that far from where we live — it’s 544 miles — so once my husband and I have overcome our vision challenges, perhaps we’ll take a short summer vacation to visit the city and the institute.

I’ve written about Mary Cassatt before — Mary Cassatt’s Good Fight — yet I’m only now beginning to realize how much she has influenced my own art. Her influence has been subtle, to be sure, yet in looking back, I can clearly see it in many of my art experiences and in many of the works I’ve created.

I mentioned Mary Cassatt’s love of soft pastels when I shared a simple bird I’d drawn with that medium. Although we mostly think of Cassatt as an oil painter, her pastel work was astonishing. You can read more here: Connecting With Mary Cassatt’s Pastels

Recently I began re-exploring soft pastels, and while it’s not a favorite medium, I am inspired by Cassatt’s work. I want to play with my pastels a little more now.

I also mentioned Cassatt when I created an imaginative piece titled “Geishas”. Cassatt was highly influenced by Japanese art, and in my love of her work, I found myself also being influenced. You can see a collection of her Japanese-inspired prints at the National Gallery of the Arts website: Mary Cassatt – Collected Color Prints. This collection includes “The Letter” — which is also housed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Of course, it’s often said that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, and while I make no claim to ever attempting to “copy” Mary Cassatt’s work, I did use “The Child’s Bath” as the basis of a truly meaningful watercolor project several years ago. It was an exercise in “experiencing art” — at a deep, emotional level.

Here was a very, very quick “gestural sketch” I made with watercolor added.

Now, you may look at this and laugh. You may shake your head and think “Mary Cassatt would not be flattered.” That’s missing the point, however. This was an experience, an opportunity for me to do more than look at a painting I loved. It was an opportunity to feel what this painting means, to involve myself in the colors and lines of the painting.

Later I made a series of very loose watercolors inspired by “The Child’s Bath”, including this one.

Again, the intent was NOT to copy Mary Cassatt’s work or to reproduce “The Child’s Bath”. It was an exercise in feeling, an opportunity to express my own love for this painting through the process of art, by putting color on a page, by guiding those colors into shapes reminiscient of Cassatt’s beautiful painting.

I have had the opportunity to view some of Cassatt’s oil paintings, and I do hope that my husband and I can travel to Chicago at some time this year. I would love to see “The Child’s Bath” on display. Seeing it would take me back to childhood, to those evenings when after my bath, I would put on my pajamas and robe and settle down with a little puzzle, carefully picking up the pieces and putting them into place, loving the gentle image that appeared before my eyes.

This is where my love of art began — with Mary Cassatt and her tender, expressive paintings. She truly has been an inspiration for me. In future posts, I’ll share other artists whose work I’ve loved and whose personal stories have touched me, yet for all the artists I love and admire, there will always be a very special place in my heart for Mary Cassatt.

WHAT ARTISTS HAVE MOST INFLUENCED YOU?