Morisot And Mary Cassatt: A Visual Analysis

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Women have always been seen as great mothers and stupendous wives, capable of taking care of their kids, keeping the house clean and organized, and maintaining their husbands happy. Society has, for a long time, seen men as superior, as the ones with the knowledge and experience to be successful and the ones that go out to bars on Tuesday nights by themselves. Throughout the years, women have fought to be seen as smart and responsible and more than capable to even be CEO’s in a competitive world full of men. A pair of women that challenged this assumption a long time ago in their own ways are Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. Although the public might see them as similar artists because they were both part of the Impressionist movement, Berthe …show more content…

“In spite of their economic status, Morisot and Cassatt had many obstacles to overcome in establishing themselves as artists, and they experienced more discouragement than anyone would be likely to guess from looking at their works. Not surprisingly, they concentrated on familiar, domestic, themes. ” (Francis E. Hyslop) Interestingly enough, at a quick glance their paintings can look the same, but their representation of women and the message they try to convey is remarkably contrasting. Mary Cassatt focused on the “real” definition of woman. She wanted her audience to view women as strong and independent human beings who are completely capable of pursuing anything they set their mind too. Mary Cassatt made her audience think, she wanted to make a quiet scandal, she wanted to speak through her figures. In Mary Cassatt’s The loge (1882), she illustrates two elegantly dressed women enjoying a night at the theatre. Usually, men are the ones that would go out without their wives and enjoy a casual or elegant social scene while women socialize in their houses drinking tea and watching their kids play. “Cassatt’s new images include representations of women as independent public people; women pursuing interests which are not directed toward the needs of others; and women who enjoy the company of other women.” (Yeh) This painting illustrates how women are more than capable to socialize in a public …show more content…

She did not want people to feel uncomfortable or displeased with her art, she wanted them to feel content, orderly, and natural. Berthe Morisot’s The Dress Making Lesson; Le lecon De Couture (1884), depicts a mother teaching her child how to sow. “Morisot’s representation of women’s lives in the suburb of Passy play their part in establishing and maintaining the meanings of such social systems” (Adler). Teaching a child to sow is living within the society’s boundaries of what women are supposed to do and know, and that is exactly what Morisot wanted to portray. Morisot maintained her motherhood paintings very traditional and eye

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