DOI issue:
Nr. 105 (November, 1905)
DOI article:Brinton, Christian: Concerning Miss Cassatt and certain etchings
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26961#0118
Miss Cassatt
four. The others were sometimes afcsorbed by
transient considerations; Miss Cassatt seldom
forgets the inherent significance of her subject.
The diffused glow of a quiet inferior, or the sharper
definition of an outdoor scene, have always meant
less to her than a direct presentation of her main
theme. She is, first and last, a figure painter; one
who chooses natural, inevitable surroundings
rather than the fictitious background of Conven-
tion. For some three decades Miss Cassatt has
resided in or near Paris. From the beginning she
identified herseif with that courageous group who
later had things much their own way in the field of
modern art. She diel not contribute to the first woe-
fullyridiculed but memorableexhibition at Nadar’s,
in the Boulevard des Ca-
pucines, though after 1879
she was, with a single
omission, well represent-
ed. It is close upon
twenty years since the
last Impressionist display
took place, and during
the interval most of its
original apostles have
passed away. Manet,
Sisley and Pissarro have
gone. Robust Monet and
taciturn Degas still sur-
vive, while among the
women Miss Cassatt
alone remains.
Although she deplores
Publicity, it may not be
indiscreet to recall the
fact that, while born in
Pittsburgh, Miss Cassatt
passed most of her time
before going to Europe
in Chester County, Penn-
sylvania. Yet the purple
hills and rieh Stretches
of meadow-land about
Westtown or the placid
Quakerism of “Portico
Row” in West Chester
were not to detain her
permanently. She began
her art career in Phila-
delphia, at the Pennsyl-
vania Academy of Fine
Arts, but Unding the in-
struction inefficient de-
cidecl to travel and study
abroad. An extended trip through Italy, Spain and
Holland did much toward maturing her taste and
perception, and when she later settled in Paris her
inclinations were rapidly approaching definition. In
Spain she had painted one or two cautious, well
consiclered balcony scenes, and in Italy she had
come under the remote y^et rigorous spell of the
Primitives. When Paris finally claimed her, it was
Degas, with his magical draughtsmanship and his
eager affinity with the great spirits of the fifteenth
Century, who exercised over her an instant and
almost imperative appeal. Convinced of her
ability and her sincerity, Degas consented to take
her as a pupil, and for near ly fifteen years she
studied and worked with her preceptor, achieving in
ETCHING
MISS CASSATT
four. The others were sometimes afcsorbed by
transient considerations; Miss Cassatt seldom
forgets the inherent significance of her subject.
The diffused glow of a quiet inferior, or the sharper
definition of an outdoor scene, have always meant
less to her than a direct presentation of her main
theme. She is, first and last, a figure painter; one
who chooses natural, inevitable surroundings
rather than the fictitious background of Conven-
tion. For some three decades Miss Cassatt has
resided in or near Paris. From the beginning she
identified herseif with that courageous group who
later had things much their own way in the field of
modern art. She diel not contribute to the first woe-
fullyridiculed but memorableexhibition at Nadar’s,
in the Boulevard des Ca-
pucines, though after 1879
she was, with a single
omission, well represent-
ed. It is close upon
twenty years since the
last Impressionist display
took place, and during
the interval most of its
original apostles have
passed away. Manet,
Sisley and Pissarro have
gone. Robust Monet and
taciturn Degas still sur-
vive, while among the
women Miss Cassatt
alone remains.
Although she deplores
Publicity, it may not be
indiscreet to recall the
fact that, while born in
Pittsburgh, Miss Cassatt
passed most of her time
before going to Europe
in Chester County, Penn-
sylvania. Yet the purple
hills and rieh Stretches
of meadow-land about
Westtown or the placid
Quakerism of “Portico
Row” in West Chester
were not to detain her
permanently. She began
her art career in Phila-
delphia, at the Pennsyl-
vania Academy of Fine
Arts, but Unding the in-
struction inefficient de-
cidecl to travel and study
abroad. An extended trip through Italy, Spain and
Holland did much toward maturing her taste and
perception, and when she later settled in Paris her
inclinations were rapidly approaching definition. In
Spain she had painted one or two cautious, well
consiclered balcony scenes, and in Italy she had
come under the remote y^et rigorous spell of the
Primitives. When Paris finally claimed her, it was
Degas, with his magical draughtsmanship and his
eager affinity with the great spirits of the fifteenth
Century, who exercised over her an instant and
almost imperative appeal. Convinced of her
ability and her sincerity, Degas consented to take
her as a pupil, and for near ly fifteen years she
studied and worked with her preceptor, achieving in
ETCHING
MISS CASSATT