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Mary Cassatt: an Intimate Japonisme

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, James Abbo� McNeill Whistler, Japanese art, Japonism, Mary Cassa�, Toulouse-Lautrec, Wikipedia, William Merri� Chase

The Child’s Bath, by Mary Cassa�, 1893 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

Part of this post is borrowed from an earlier post that featured Mary Cassa� (22 May 1844 – 14 June 1926). Atthe time I wrote my earlier post, we had not discussed the influence of Japanese art on Western artists. However,we have now opened that door by showing how Japonism had an impact on the art of Toulouse-Lautrec. ButJaponism also influenced other artists, one of whom is Mary Cassa�.

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Nude Child, aquatint, drypoint, 1890-1891 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

Mother’s Kiss, drypoint, etching, 1891-1891 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

The Visit, aquatint, drypoint, 1890-1891 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

The Lamp, aquatint, drypoint, etching, 1891 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

Two Forms of JaponismeJaponism left its imprint in many ways, but we will focus on two ways: subject ma�er and style.James Abbo� McNeill Whistler (11 July 1834 – 17 July 1903) and William Merri� Chase (1 November1849 – 25 October 1916) featured an oriental subject ma�er: kimonos, blue and white porcelain,folding screens, fans, etc. As for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, his “Japonisme” was, to a large extent, ama�er of composition. Theretofore, artists had usually arranged their subject ma�er using the Greek“Golden Section.” (See Golden ratio, Wikipedia.) Without stating that beauty is an absolute, theGreeks had noticed that an artwork was considered more beautiful by a large number of people if acertain template was used. This template is the Golden Section, which looks like an off-centre crucifixand it does indeed characterize the composition of a large number of drawings, prints and paintings.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Given that Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a trained artist, I would presume he was familiar withthe Golden Section. However, in Lautrec’s works, one of the two intersecting lines of the GoldenSection, is a diagonal line, which is a departure from the usual vertical line intersecting an horizontalline. That is a feature of Japonism.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec‘s Japonisme was therefore expressed in his compositional technique. As forcolour, it is a flat colour, which is consistent with printmaking. If one looks at the dress worn by MayBelfort in Jardin de Paris, May Belfort (1883; Art Nouveau) (please click on the link to see the artwork),one notices that May’s dress is evenly red. Lautrec rendered dimensionality by using lines, which isalso a feature of Japonisme. His Moulin Rouge, La Goulue with her Sister (1892; Art Nouveau) is anexample of linearity. There is a line on one side of La Goulue’s dress. Which takes us to Mary Cassa�.

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The Coiffure Study, drypoint, 1890-1891 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

The Bath, 1890-1891 (Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

Mary Cassatt’s Japonisme

Mary Cassa� (22 May 1844 – 14 June 1926) was an American artist of French descent born to anupper-middle-class family in what was becoming Pi�sburgh, Pennsylvania. She was educated in theUnited States and various European countries: Spain, Italy and Holland. However, although shebegan studying the fine arts in the United States, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, itwould not be long before she moved to Paris and became a permanent “expat.” She did so in1871, but returned to the United States almost immediately, the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 –10 May 1871) having erupted.

Mary Cassat’s Japonisme shows affinities with that of Toulouse-Lautrec in that it is our second type ofJaponism, Japonism revealed in the manner an artist creates his or her work rather than in his or herchoice of subject ma�er. From the point of view of composition, the art of Mary Cassa� resemblesthat of Lautrec. We have an off-centre Golden Section and one of the intersecting lines is a diagonalline, a discreet diagonal line.

Moreover, her colours are flat colours whose dimensionality is expressed mostly through the use oflines. The art of Mary Cassa� is otherwise unrelated to that of Toulouse-Lautrec. Mary Cassa� didnot make posters showing the Moulin Rouge and can-can dancers. Moreover, compared withToulouse-Lautrec, her colours are subdued.

Although I have stated that Mary Cassa�’s subject ma�er was not Oriental, she sometimes featured awoman holding a fan. However, her main subject ma�er are the Madonna and Child of theRenaissance, women and genre painting, depictions of people going about their dailyactivities. Genre painting was introduced by artists of the Dutch Golden Age and is a characteristic ofJapanese meisho “famous places” prints, but in a context so different from Western art as to be anegligible similarity.

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The Paris Japanese Arts Exhibition of 1890

Mary visited the Paris Japanese Arts Exhibition of 1890 and so loved the works she saw thatshe devoted the following year to making prints. She had an admirer and close friend in Edgar Degas(19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917). He was impressed with her work and encouraged her to show itat Impressionist exhibits, which she did eventually. Degas, whose pastels she loved, taught her howto make etchings. To this day, artists often learn to make prints as several copies of their art areproduced which makes their artwork more affordable. But, in the case of Mary Cassa�’s work,learning to make etchings benefi�ed her Japonism probably more than it benefi�ed her clients. Shecould and did produce prints that may well be our best example of Japonisme.

According to Germaine Greer, “[t]he exhibition of Japanese art at the Palais des Beaux-Arts hadrevealed [to Mary Cassa�] the lightness and grace of the alternative aesthetic, beside which thepompous works of recognized artists seemed all the more laboured, explicit, heavy andlustreless.”[i] Mary was so impressed by the prints she saw and studied that she devoted the year1891 to making prints, working in drypoint. Having traced her drawing on copper, as is the practicein etchings, she “laid in a soft ground over the part that she wished to colour and applied the coloursall at once, by a technique that she called ‘à la poupée’ (doll-like), working with rags tied over li�lesticks. She and her printer then ran the plates by hand through the press.” (Greer, p. 112).

These prints were shown and Mary’s friend Degas was astonished: “I will not admit that a womanwill draw so well.” Using the technique she devised, artist Mary Cassa� drew lines and put in a flatcolour, in which her art resembles that of Toulouse-Lautrec. Moreover, from the point of view ofcomposition, Mary also used Lautrec’s diagonal lines, albeit discreetly. Grace permeates not only theprints created in 1990-1991, but it also does all of her paintings.

For instance, although the work featured at the top of this post is not a print, we can observe readilythe influence of Japanese woodblock printing and, more precisely, that of ukiyo-e, “pictures of thefloating world,” prints. As is the case with Toulouse-Lautrec’s prints, Mary’s prints are linear andthe colour, mainly flat. However, to return to the painting featured at the top of this post, the mannerin which artist Mary Cassa� depicted the lady’s hair reflects Western art. The lady’s hair is not a flatblack, but her hairdo shows Japonism. This Japonism is one of subject ma�er, our first form ofJaponism, but marginally.

Germaine Greer writes that, “[Mary Cassa�’s] designs are as deceptively simple and self-effacing asa haiku.” (Greer, p. 112). A haiku is a very short Japanese poem, usually 17 on in three phrases of 5, 7and 5 on respectively. Such poetry expresses an “essence,” and can therefore be associated withImpressionism, or an a�empt to capture the evanescent moment when light touches and moldsthe subject, giving it constant newness. (See Impressionism, Wikipedia.)

Biographical Notes

In nineteenth-century France, women were denied access to the Paris École des Beaux-Arts, not tomention the right to vote, a cause Mary Cassa� would embrace especially in her later years, whencataracts all but blinded her. Therefore, given the exclusion of women from the Paris École des Beaux-Arts, Mary Cassa� studied privately under academicist Jean-Léon Gérôme.

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Toward the end of 1866, Mary also joined a painting class taught by Charles Chaplin, a noted genreartist. As well, in 1868, Cassa� studied with artist Thomas Couture and showed A MandolinePlayer (please click on the title to see the artwork), dated 1872 in Wikipaintings, at the Paris Salon of1868. Cassa�’s Two Women Throwing Flowers During Carnival was also exhibited and purchasedat the Paris Salon of 1872.

The above were “realist” works that showed the influence of Gustave Courbet (10 June 1819 – 31December 1877). However, as of 1877, Cassa�’s work would no longer be accepted by the ParisSalon. At Degas’s request, Mary therefore showed eleven of her works at the Impressionist exhibit of1879. She then joined the Impressionists in shows that took place in 1880, 1881, and 1886.[ii] Yet,Mary Cassa�’s Japoniste prints and paintings cannot be associated with Impressionism, except bydate. Let us say that Cassa� had a Japoniste period.

As mentioned earlier, once she returned to France, via Italy,[iii] in 1874, Cassa� also receivedguidance from painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September1917). Moreover, she was inspired by the art of Camille Pissarro (10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903).Degas and Pissarro were forerunners of Impressionism. As do many apprentices, Mary went to theLouvre on a daily basis and copied the masters. These visits to the Louvre also allowed her to meetother artists.

The Madonna and Child: Feminity and Motherliness

Mary decided not to marry. She felt she could not combine the duties of a wife and mother and thedemands of a career as artist. However, as I have noted, her artwork are depictions of the Madonnaand Child, particularly as of 1890. So there is femininity and motherliness in her art. MaryCassa� also painted children and women and did genre work, depictions of domesticity. TheVisit (please click on the title to see the artwork) and The Lamp, prints shown above, are examples ofher genre painting. So are The Coiffure Study and The Bath. Intimacy pervades Cassa�’s art. This artcannot be associated with Impressionism, except by date.

Post-Impressionism, Fauvism (Henri Matisse) and Cubism (Georges Braque, Picasso, etc.),movements that followed Impressionism, were not to Mary’s liking. Besides, she developed varioushealth problems, including cataracts. She continued to paint despite poor eyesight and, according toWikipedia, “she took up the cause of women’s suffrage and, in 1915, she showed eighteen works inan exhibition supporting the movement.” She died eleven years later, on 14 June 1926, at Château deBeaufresne.

Mary Cassa�’s Japonisme, an intimate, feminine and motherly Japonisme, reached excellence as didmost of her work. She was a fine artist who earned the of her peers. In 1894, she was described byGustave Geffroy as one of “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism along with Marie Bracquemond and Berthe Morisot. Very few women are ever called “grandes dames.” (See MaryCassa�, Wikipedia.)

RELATED ARTICLES

Le�er From Paris | Tokyo on the Seine (tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com)Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: the Can-can (michelinewalker.com)William Merri� Chase: Japonisme in America (michelinewalker.com)

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[i] Germaine Greer, The Obstacle Race, The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work (New York:Farrar Straus Giroux, 1979), p. 112.

[ii] “Mary Cassa�”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 15 Jul. 2013 <h�p://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/98098/Mary-Cassa�>.

[iii] She was commissioned by the Archbishop of Pi�sburgh to paint two copies of paintingsby Correggio in Parma, Italy.

Mary Cassatt

© Micheline Walker

15 July 2013

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The Bath, n.d.

(Photo credit: Wikipaintings)

(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)

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said:

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thoughts on “Mary Cassatt: an Intimate Japonisme”

1. Karen

July 31, 2013 at 7:05 am07

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michelinewalker

August 18, 2013 at 7:05 pm08

I thank you for giving me this information and the link. Best, Micheline

2. lotusgreen

July 21, 2013 at 7:05 pm07

Wonderful — thank you. One thing that has always struck me as integral to understandingJaponisme was the permission that the spread of the Japanese prints across the West lent to theWestern artists: permission to bring the artists’ eye home.

h�p://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/2006/09/mother-and-child.html

3. Laurie Y. Navarro

July 21, 2013 at 7:05 am07

Her style evolved, and she moved away from impressionism to a simpler, straightforwardapproach. By 1886, she no longer identified herself with any art movement and experimentedwith a variety of techniques. Nearly one third of her paintings depict a mother and childportrayed in intimate relationship and domestic se�ings. In 1891, she exhibited a series of highlyoriginal colored prints, including Woman Bathing and The Coiffure, inspired by the Japanesemasters shown in Paris the year before.

michelinewalker

July 25, 2013 at 7:05 pm07

Yes, her style evolved. Moreover, although she showed her work at Impressionist Exhibitions,to my knowledge, she never joined the Impressionists. People have often put her, Degas andManet in that category, but I believe they did so because it was convenient, because she wasdoing something new and because she was working during the same period as Impressionists. Her Japonisme’s exhibition was a moment of discovery that has left quite an imprint on artistsand point to her uniqueness.

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said:

said:

I thank you for writing. Best, Micheline

4. louvain95

July 16, 2013 at 7:05 pm07

This is a particularly interesting article, dear Micheline. You found the right word to characteriseMary Cassa�’s work: “grace”.

Her painting is a rich mixture of sure lines and soft colours. The characters seem surprised in intimate moments; the scenes are graceful because of the softcolours, as you said, and also perhaps, because of the multiple curved lines in the decor (sofas,wallpapers) and in her characters themselves (the roundness of a shoulder or arm and back – likethe Japanese ladies’portraits, as you wrote). I love the film also. Thank you! Lou

michelinewalker

July 23, 2013 at 7:05 pm07

Dear Louvain, We’ve inherited jewels and Mary Cassa�’s is our finest example of what Japan contributed toWestern art. I am so glad she created her collection of prints. They are very beautiful. As Iwrote: grace! I discovered Japonisme when I was a student in Victoria. The Victoria Art Gallery has anexcellent collection of Japanese art and Oriental art. I also had friends who owned Japaneseand Chinese treasures: tapestries, rugs, furniture (with the curved-in legs) I very muchadmired. I hope you are well. Thank you for writing. Micheline

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