Mary Cassatt's Unconventional Women

In 1913, the impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was declared to be 'the painter of mothers and children,' a title that would redefine her once provocative career as sentimental. This lecture re-examines Mary Cassatt as a radical, feminist Impressionist using current research that reclaims her rebelliousness. The lecture looks into the actual lives of the women and children she painted rather than what nostalgia imagines them to be. As we look at Cassatt we will also learn about the lives of middle class women in late 19th century Paris, giving fresh insight into impressionist art and how it challenged the conventional appearance of women at the time. Before her current position as head of art history at City Literary Institute, London's largest adult education college, Sarah Jaffray was a curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. For six years, she was the lead educator for the Bridget Riley Art Foundation and has also worked at Wellcome Collection exploring the connections of art, medicine and human experience. Prior to relocating to London for family, she was a tenured professor of Art History based in Los Angeles. Sarah has been an art history lecturer since 2003.