Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt | 1844–1926 | The Cup of Tea c.1880–81 | Oil on canvas | 92.4 x 65.4 cm| From the Collection of James Stillman, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman 1922 (22.16.17) | Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Photograph courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Cup of Tea c.1880–81
Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) spent much of her childhood in Europe. She enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1861, and then continued her training in Paris from 1865, where she had a painting accepted for the 1868 Salon, denoting her professional status as an artist. Cassatt returned to Philadelphia in 1870 at the outbreak of the Franco–Prussian War. She returned to Europe in 1871, and travelled to Italy, Spain, Belgium and Holland. Cassatt settled permanently in Paris in 1874, with her parents and sister joining her three years later. Cassatt was the only American artist to show her works in the series of French impressionist exhibitions from 1874 to 1886. At the invitation of Edgar Degas she exhibited in 1877 and was represented by 12 works in 1879. In all, Cassatt exhibited in four of the eight impressionist shows.
The Cup of Tea c.1880–81 and Spring: Margot Standing in a Garden 1900 are typical of Cassatt’s figural compositions and represent the major theme of her work — women and children in domestic settings.
