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Transcription: [00:03:31]
Many of the impressionists, as I mentioned, moved their works outdoors, and focus their attention on scenes in cafes, theatres, landscapes, and the people that were within them. Degas himself is perhaps most well-known for his images of dancers. I know that's usually what I think of, I think of the little dancer fourteen years old, the statue that he created. So this is, you know again, this portrait of a friend, which is I think a little bit unusual from some of the things that he was doing at the time.

So Degas and Mary Cassatt met in 1877, likely through a mutual acquaintance, and this was a time... this painting was painted in a time that for Degas, he was already established as an artist and was having some success in selling his paintings and so he was already well-known especially among the networks in Paris and for Cassatt this was very early on in her career where she had already experienced the heartbreak of being rejected by the salon in Paris but it also had a little bit of success she'd had at least one work that was accepted at the salon, and had received, you know, some good praise from the critics.

So Degas when when they met he said of her painting this is someone who feels as I do and his praise was something that she thrived under. Um there's discussion that he was a mentor to her but again as he was independent so was Mary Cassatt, very independent in her personality, and not that she wouldn't have taken on a mentor-mentee-ship relationship but it does seem that, it was at times, more of a collaboration, and, in fact, at the time that he painted this painting they were collaborating on an art journal the two of them were working at print making, and unfortunately that art journal was never published. I don't know that I'm sure it exists somewhere in somebody's lucky archives but, unfortunately it was never published and in fact they had a bit of a falling out as a result.

And that was sort of the theme for their forty year friendship, they were on again off again friends. She again she took his praise very seriously but likewise she also took his criticism very seriously and criticism was something that its clear he gave more than his praise, and was known to be quite a bit stormy with other friends as well. So it was a tough friendship, it wasn't necessarily an equal partnership, but its clear that his influence on her painting uh at this time that she's learning the impressionist ways and starting to blossom into her own she she takes those techniques and makes them her own and where she has elements of his influence that's clear in her paintings there's also elements from the other impressionist that she met with and she like him, walked to her own drummer and walked to the her own beat I should say, excuse me. And uh and made her own way and and found success that way as well. As a part of her success she found herself in a role where as an American in Paris she was a contact for Americans who where curious about the art world in Paris and so found herself taking on the role as a consultant to wealthy Americans who came to visit Paris, used her contacts to figure out what artwork they should be acquiring, and she advised them in that way, and directed them towards the impressionists, also to Degas and so some of his success was was from the contacts and connections that she helped him make.

The, the theory about this painting is that, one of the theories that I read about this painting is that as in that role, as someone who had some impact on his financial success, that he has painted her here as a tarot card reader, where she's holding cards out to him as if to tell him his future- his financial future -and that perhaps he, to paint her in such a way, as something that was considered a bit of a shock to her proprietary senses, Mary Cassatt guarded her reputation very well. In, in all of the biographies that I reviewed, one thing that struck me is that it was clear that many historians who reviewed her papers and the papers of her friends and family were trying to find out more details about her, and trying to find out, you know- was there more to her relationship with Degas? Was there a romantic connection there? Was there a romantic connection anywhere? -And they never found it. They never were able to find that, in fact, someone observed that she did destroy the correspondence that she and Degas had, and that perhaps in that, there is the suggestion that- well, why would she have destroyed it if there wasn't something to hide? But Mary Cassatt, you know, the family that she was raised in. She is continually referred to as being well-bred, and at this time it would have been um something that would have been a shock and a scandal for her family to have been romantically involved with someone while not being married. And she does write in her papers that she made a conscious decision that she would never be married. That she wanted to be an artist first and foremost, and she knew that that would never mesh well, with the domestic ties that were required to, to be a wife and to be a mother. There's theories that her paintings of Mother with Child and that the theme that she worked on was sort of the sense of longing later on in her life that perhaps she was wishing for that same connection, but at the same time she was surrounded by family. Her family came to live with her in Paris, and she had nieces and nephews that she doted on. And it could just be that she was observing that, in the women amongst her. She was also very proud of being a woman in a field that was at the time, dominated by men. And I think if anything was looking to cast light on a topic, a subject matter that had not been covered on very well. Most women at the time being you know portrayed in romantic ways. Either romantic or very very traditional. And so it was another role that took up so much of women's time and and to show some of the more day to day you know bathing and the cleaning and things like that that I think she was trying to express there. That personally I think she was trying to express there just based on what I've observed in the readings. So since I don't buy the theory about the tarot cards. The other thing that is possible is because Mary Cassatt did say, when she decided to get rid of the painting, it was a gift to her and it hung in her home for over thirty years. But she said to the dealer, when she wanted to get rid of it that, "it is a portrait Degas made of me which above all, I want to dispose of. It has artistic qualities but it is painful to me and represents me as a person so repugnant that I do not want anyone to know that I posed for it." And, to, I, You know I keep looking for what is repugnant. What is repugnant there? Because I think it's beautiful. But, I have two theories about this. The first one being that she is extending these photographs. Which at the time it was very popular-especially among elite classes um to have carte de visite. Which are little black and white photographs. We have several of them especially in our civil war hallway there that I recommend going and viewing. And it was something that was a bit of a trading card. You gave them out among your friends and you collected you collect them at will. As someone who was on a new scene. Settling into to Paris and being an American in Paris there was a certain stigma that was associated with being an American in Paris. Um and in some ways her ability to make connections her ability to acquire cartes de visite might have been something that she was proud of. Perhaps a little bit secretly. but this could be a painting that perhaps she feels that she is acting boastfully.
[00:12:27]
You know that, that it was something maybe a comment that she made to him or um that she sees herself as someone who's being boastful as to the connections she was able to make. Um, the other possibility is that I've considered is there's a photograph of Mary Cassatt that was taken about 6 years before this painting was made. So, she's a little bit younger, and to be honest she's a lot more attractive than this painting makes her out to be. As beautiful as it is, she has dark wide set eyes and her her chin is not pointy in this manner. Her nose, her figure her features just seem much more um pointed in this painting. And perhaps that you know the tilt of her head but um that's compared to the paragraph, but it is. Perhaps she just felt it was unflattering you know. If her beauty was something that she was... she kept it for 30 years I know. Exactly (x2). Degas did come visit her perhaps as part of their friendship she felt it would've been impolite to not have it hanging should he show up at her house. And at the time she sold it was sure before his death and he was fairly blind by then so. (Laughs) So um Mary Cassatt herself also lost her vision uh later in life she had tremendous problems with cataract. So it could be that she you know who knows, who knows? It's a bit of a mystery. So that makes it even all the more intriguing uh I think. But uh so Mary Cassatt uh the other reason I chose her for this month being Women's History Month very last day, of Women's History Month, um Mary Cassatt was involved in the suffrages movement in the early 20th century, very proudly so. Part of that relates I think a lot of the feelings about her career, again being successful in a field dominated by by male painters for the most part. Um many of her female counterparts who she went through school with um either suffered some of the scandal of being involved um with other painters. Or else married and essentially dropped off in their production. So it was difficult, it was a difficult path to make, but at the same time um she was in the right place at the right time. With the impressionists because to a certain extent the impressionists saw themselves as the ones who were already breaking the rules. So, you know, what better rule to break than to have a female counterpart? Um, and um she received quite a bit of acceptance among them and encouragement. Um, but again, held herself apart in some ways and felt that it was necessary to be independent.

[00:15:14]

Perhaps for her own pride and knowing she could do it herself. Which is something I know I relate to. Stubborn as I am, I appreciate the stubbornness I see in her and certainly grateful for the art she brought us.

{SILENCE}

[00:15:34]
I make sure I got all my points. I think I did. Does anyone have any questions at this point?

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-07-04 15:43:23 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-07-05 09:52:57 The ___ marks are where I was not able to understand what was said.