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Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the Artist's Mother

ca. 1889

In 1866, the painter and printmaker Mary Cassatt traveled to Paris, where she eventually settled, and became the only American to exhibit with the French Impressionists. Using the loose, fluid brushwork of Impressionism, she depicted scenes that typically featured women in social or domestic settings, often capturing private moments.

In the many and varied portraits she produced of her mother, born Katherine Kelso Johnston, Cassatt honored the strength and dignity of a woman who profoundly influenced and supported her throughout her artistic career. Here Mrs. Cassatt appears in three-quarter profile, cradling her face in one hand as she gazes pensively ahead. The solidly rendered, austere black dress she wears contrasts with the sketchy and colorful brushstrokes that swirl around her, animating the surrounding space and anchoring the sitter in an environment suffused with the artist’s creative energies.

Artist: Mary Cassatt (American, active France, 1844–1926)
Title: Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, the Artist's Mother
Date: ca. 1889
Place of Creation: Paris
Object Type: Painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 36 1/4 x 25 5/8 in. (92.075 x 65.088 cm) Framed: 44 3/8 x 34 in. (112.713 x 86.36 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase, William H. Noble Bequest Fund
Accession Number: 1979.35

The artist;
To her brother, Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839–1906), by 1895–{1906};
By descent to his brother, Mr. J[oseph] Gardner Cassatt (1849–1911) and Mrs. Eugenia Carter Cassatt (1855–1929), Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, by 1909–after 1927;
By descent to their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs J. Gardner Cassatt (1886–1955), Radnor, Pennsylvania, by 1934–1978;
[Sold to Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, 1978–1979]. [1]
Purchased by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1979.[1] Advertised in Antiques 115, no. 1 (January 1979), p. 55, repr. color.
Boston, Massachusetts, Copley Hall, March 1895, "Loan Collection of Portraits of Women, for the Benefit of The Children's Aid Society and the Sunnyside Day Nursery," cat. no. 59, p. 12, not repr., as Mrs. R. S. Cassatt, lent by Mr. A. J. Cassatt.
New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, April 16–30, 1865, "Exposition of Paintings, Pastels and Etchings by Miss Mary Cassatt," cat. no. 34., as Portrait of Mrs. Cassatt, lent by Mr. A. J. Cassatt.
Paris, France, Durand-Ruel Galleries, November 2–28, 1908, "Tableaux et Pastels par Mary Cassatt," cat. no. 4, as Portrait de Mme C . . ., lent by A. J. Cassatt (via the artist).
Boston, Massachusetts, St. Botolph Club, February 8–20, 1909, "Pictures by Mary Cassatt," cat. no. 10, as Portrait de Mme. C., lent by J. G. Cassatt, Esq., Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, April 17–May 9, 1920, "Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Representative American Artists," cat. no. 45, as Portrait of Her Mother lent by Mrs. J. Gardner Cassatt.
Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Museum, April 30–May 30, 1927, "Mary Cassatt," cat. no. 25, repr., as Portrait of the Artist's Mother, . . ., lent by Mrs. J. Gardner Cassatt, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Institute, March 15–April 15, 1928, "A Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Mary Cassatt," cat. no. 24, not repr., as Portrait of Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, lent by Mr. Gardner Cassatt, Philadelphia.
St. Louis, Missouri, City Art Museum of St. Louis, December 30, 1933–January 20, 1934, "Exhibition of Oils and Pastels by Mary Cassatt," cat. no. 4, lent by Mr. Gardner Cassatt.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1934, "A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture," cat. no. 438, p. 65, repr. pl. 49, as The Artist's Mother, Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, lent by Mr. Gardner Cassatt, Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum, October 17–November 28, 1937, "Leaders of American Impressionism: J. H. Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam," cat. text by John Baur, cat. no. 23, as Portrait of Mrs. Robert Cassatt, 1895, lent by Gardner Cassatt, Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Haverford, Pennsylvania, Haverford College, May 13–June 10, 1939, "Mary Cassatt, 1845–1926," cat. foreword by J. Stogdell Stokes, and text by Christian Brinton, cat. no. 2, repr., as Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, Mother of the Artist, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Cassatt.
New York, Wildenstein & Co., October 29–December 6, 1947, "A Loan Exhibition of Mary Cassatt for the Benefit of the Goddard Neighborhood Center," cat. no. 10, pp. 23, 33, repr. p. 22, as Portrait of Mrs. Robert Cassatt, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Cassatt.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Peale House Galleries), January 7–February 7, 1955, "Mary Cassatt," checklist no. 40, lent by Mrs. Gardner Cassatt, not repr.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, April 22–May 29, 1960, "Mary Cassatt," no cat. nos., checklist as Mrs. Robert Cassatt, lent by Mrs. Gardner Cassatt..
Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore Museum of Art, April 17–June 3, 1962, "Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot, and Mary Cassatt," cat. text by Lincoln Johnson, cat. no. 108., p. 60, not repr., as Portrait of Mrs. Robert Simpson Cassatt, ca. 1883, lent by Mrs. Gardner Cassatt, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
New York, Knoedler Galleries, Inc., February 1–26, 1966, "The Paintings of Mary Cassatt: A Benefit Exhibition for the Development of the National Collection of Fine Arts," cat. no. 16, repr. as Portrait of Mrs. Robert Simpson Cassatt, lent by Mrs. Gardner Cassatt. [2]
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, September 27–November 8, 1970, "Mary Cassatt, 1844–1926," cat. intro. by Adelyn D. Breeskin, cat. no. 42, pp. 14, 26, repr. pl. 42., lent by Mrs. Gardner Cassatt, Villanova, Pa.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, August 5–September 24, 1978, "Mary Cassatt at Home," cat. text by Barbara Stern Shapiro, cat. no. 18., p. 14, not repr., lent by Mrs. Gardner Cassatt.
Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs Desert Museum, January 26–March 4, 1979, "100 Years of American Art," cat. no. 24, lent by Coe Kerr Galleries, New York.
Tokyo, Japan, Isetan Art Gallery, June 11–July 7, 1981; Nara, Japan, Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, 18 July–23 Aug. 1981. "The Art of Mary Cassatt, 1844–1926," cat. text by Adelyn D. Breeskin, cat. no. 21, pp. 14, 99, repr. pl. 21 (color) and p. 99. [3] Exhibition organized by The American Federation of Arts, New York.
San Francisco, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Director's Choice, 1987.?
Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williams College Museum of Art, "Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 18 June–27 Aug. 1989; Boston, Mass., Museum of Fine Arts, 8 Sept.–5 Nov. 1989). Cat. text by Nancy Mowll Mathews and Barbara Stern Shapiro, cat. no. 4. p. 9, repr. color [4]
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, October 10, 1998–January 10, 1999; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 14–May 9, 1999; Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, June 6–September 6, 1999. "Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman," cat. text by Judith Barter, with contributions by Erica E. Hirshler, George T. M. Shackelford, Kevin Sharp, Harriet K. Stratis, and Andrew J. Walker. Cat. no. 55, p. 323, repr. p. 277 (color).
Mobile, Alabama, Gulf Coast Exploreum, July 2, 2002–January 5, 2003; Wilmington, Delaware, Winterthur Museum Garden and Library, October 11, 2003–February 1, 2004; Charleston, West Virginia, Charles M. Avampato Museum, February 28–May 30, 2004; Puebla Mexico, Museo Amparo, September 24, 2004–February 28, 2005. "American Accents: Visual Culture as History" [Spanish titled used in Mexico] Acentos Americanos: Cultura Visual Como Historia. Obras Maestras de Los Museos de Bellas Artes de San Francisco" Cat. by Daniell Cornell, cat. no. 49, pp. 24-26, 123, repr. p. [25] (color). [5]
London, National Gallery, February 22–May 21, 2006; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, June 25–September 24, 2006; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 17, 2006–January 28, 2007. "Americans in Paris: 1860–1900," cat. by Kathleen Adler, Erica E. Hirshler, H. Barbara Weinberg, with contributions from David Park Curry, Rodolphe Rapetti and Christopher Riopelle. Cat. no. 37, p. 80, 235, repr. p. 82 (color), p. 235 (color). (Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt . . . lent to the Boston and New York venues only.)
Frankfurt, Germany, Schirn Kunsthalle, co-organized with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, February 22–June 1, 2008; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor," June 21–September 21, 2008. "Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalè, Marie Bracquemond," no cat.
Japan, Yokohama Museum of Art, June 25–September 11, 2016; Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, September 27–December 4, 2016, "Mary Cassatt Retrospective," (National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, cat. text with contributions by Nancy Mowll Matthews, Hideko Numata, Pamela A. Ivinski, Marc Rosen, Susan Pinsky, and Junko Uchiyama, cat. no. 34, pp. 64, repr. p. 64. (color).
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, April 17–August 4, 2024, "Mary Cassatt".[1] See Ivinski, August 18, 1992. [2] See Ivinski August 18, 1992.[3] Exhibition organized by The American Federation of Arts, New York.[4] Exhibition organized by the Williams College Museum of Art and circulated to the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Mrs. Robert Cassatt, The Artist's Mother was exhibition the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston venues only. [5] Exhibition organized by FAMSF but not shown there.
Loan Collection of Portraits of Women, for the Benefit of the Boston Children's Aid Society, and The Sunnyside Day Nursery, exh. cat. (Boston: Copley Hall, 1896), cat. no. 59. Tableux et Pastels par Mary Cassatt, exh. cat. (Paris: Galeries Durand-Ruel, 1908), cat. no. 4.Exhibition at Saint Botolph Club, Boston: Pictures by Mary Cassatt, exh. cat. (Boston: Saint Botolph Club, 1909), cat. no. 10Segard, Achille, Mary Cassatt: Un Peintre des Enfants et des Méres, (Paris: Librarie Paul Ollendorff, 1913); pp. 166-167.
"Etas-Unis: Musées et Collections," Bulletin de l'art ancien et moderne, no. 739 (June 1927): p. 206, repr. 207.
Havemeyer, Louise W., "The Cassatt Exhibition," The Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin 22, no. 113 (May 1927): pp. 374, repr. 372.
Watson, Forbes, "Philadelphia Pays Tribute to Mary Cassatt," Arts 11, no. 6 (June 1927): p. 288, repr.
Grafly, Dorothy, "In Retrospect—Mary Cassatt," American Magazine of Art 18, no. 6 (June 1927): p. 310, repr."A Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Mary Cassatt," exh. cat. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Department of Fine Arts Carnegie Institute, 1928), cat. no. 24.
Watson, Forbes, Mary Cassatt, (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1932); p. 33, repr. Catalogue of a Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture," exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), p. 65, cat. no. 438, repr. pl. LXIX.  Exhibition of Oils and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, December 30, 1933 to January 28, 1934, (Saint Louis, Missouri: City Art Museum of St. Louis, 1934), cat. no. 4.
"The Century of Progress Exhibition of Art for 1934: Mary Cassatt and the Impressionists," Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 28, no. 4 (April–May 1934): pp. 43, repr. 39.Leaders of American Impressionism: Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, John H. Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, exh. cat. (Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Museum, 1937),  p. 26, cat. no. 23.Mary Cassatt 1845–1926, exh. cat. (Haverford, Pennsylvania: The Union, Haverford College, 1939), cat. no. 2A Loan Exhibition of Mary Cassatt for the Benefit of The Goddard Neighborhood Center, exh. cat. (New York: 1947), p. 33, cat. no. 10, p. 22, repr., p. 23.
Reed, Judith Kaye, "Honoring Cassatt," Art Digest 22 (November 15, 1947): p. 16.
Breeskin, Adelyn D[ohme], The Graphic Work of Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné, (New York: H. Bittner and Company, 1948); p. 66. Paintings, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt, exh. cat. (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1962), p. 60, cat. no. 108.The Paintings of Mary Cassatt: A Benefit Exhibition for the Development of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., February 1 through 26, 1966, exh. cat. (New York: M. Knoedler & Co., 1966), cat. no. 16.
Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme, Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings, (Washington, D.C., 1970); p. 91, repr. fig. 162.Mary Cassatt: 1844–1926, ex. cat., (Washington, D.C.: The National Gallery of Art, 1970), p. 26, cat. no. 42, repr., black and white.
Bullard, E. John, Mary Cassatt, Oils and Pastels. New York: Watson-Guptill Pub., 1975; 48–49, repr.
Hale, Nancy, Mary Cassatt, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1975); p. 149.Shapiro, Barbara Stern, Mary Cassatt at Home, exh. cat. (Boston: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1978), p. 14, cat. no. 18.  [Advertisement for Coe-Kerr Gallery], Antiques, January 1979, Vol. 115, p. 55, repr. color. "The Legion is reopened," San Francisco Examiner, December 3, 1979, repr.
Curtis, Cathy, "Additions to a Museum," Artweek 11 (January 19, 1980): p. 1, repr.

Love, Richard H., Cassatt: The Independent, (Chicago: R. H. Love, 1980); p. 83.
Pollock, Griselda, Mary Cassatt, (New York: Harper & Row, 1980); p. 96, repr. The Art of Mary Cassatt, exh. cat. (Osaka: The Asahi Shimbun, 1981), p. 99, repr. cat. no. 21.
"La Chronique des Arts: Principales Acquisitions des Musées en 1980," Supplément a la Gazette des Beaux Arts, no. 1346 (Mar. 1981): p. 42, repr. fig. 224.
Lindsay, Suzanne G., "Mary Cassatt and Philadlephia," exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1985); pp. 66, 93, 94, repr. 26, fig. 3. [1]
Selected Works, (San Francisco: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1987); p. 120, repr. (color).
Maass, John, "Arranging Mother," American Heritage 39, no. 4 (May–June 1988): pp. 50–51, repr. 50 (color).
Baker, Kenneth, "Primer on American Painting: Complete Cassatt Color Prints," San Francisco Chronicle, July 17, 1989.
Simpson, Marc, Sally Mills, and Jennifer Saville, The American Canvas: Paintings from the Collection of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1989); pp. 148–149, 240–241, repr. 149 (color).Constantino, Maria, Mary Cassatt, (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1995), p. 57, repr.
Mathews, Nancy Mowell, ed., Cassatt : a Retrospective, (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1996); repr. 164, pl. 47 (color).Barter, Judith A., Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, exh. cat., (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), p. 277, repr. color, p. 323, cat. no. 55
Mancoff, Debra N., Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives, (London: Frances Lincoln Limited, 1998); repr. 40 (color).
Weinberg, Johathan, Ambition & Love in Modern American Art, (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2001); p. 10, repr. 12, fig. 1.9.Cornell, Daniell, American Accents: Visual Culture as History, exh. cat., (San Francisco: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2003), p. 24, p. 25, repr. color, p.  26, p. 123, cat. no. 49.
Burgard, Timothy Anglin, Daniell Cornell, Isabel Breskin, et al., Masterworks of American Painting at the de Young, (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2005), cat. no. 58, 227–231, 513–514 , repr. 228, pl. 58 (color).Adler, Kathleen, Erica E. Hirshler, H. Barbara Weinberg, American in Paris 1860–1900, exh. cat. (Great Britain: The National Gallery, 2006), p. 80, p. 82, repr. color, p. 235, cat. no. 37.
Nochlin, Linda, Bathers, Bodies, Beauty: The Visceral Eye, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006); pp. 273, repr. 274, fig. 95 (color).
Garb, Tamar, “`The Human race torn to pieces’: The Painted Portrats of Alice Neel,” in Alice Neel: Painted Truths, (Houston: The Museum of Fine Art; distributed by Yale University Press, 2010); p. 30, repr. fig. 14 (color).Thompson, Jennifer A., "'Posed so Beautifully' Mary Cassatt's Work with Models," in Vischer, Theodora, ed., Close-Up, exh. cat., (Berlin and Stuttgart: Hatje Cantz, 2021), p. 70, repr. color. Palmor, Lauren, "Matriarch/Muse: Mary Cassatt's Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt, The Artist's Mother, CA. 1885," in Fine Arts, Fall 2024, p. 33, repr. color. Thompson, Jennifer A., and Samuel Garber, Mary Cassatt at Work, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2024), p. 172, p. 284. [1] Not in exhibition.

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