Mary Cassatt, the renowned French-American painter, held little regard for Mother's Day, focusing instead on the pressing issue of women's suffrage, which she actively supported and occasionally reflected in her artwork.

At first glance, this may seem surprising. Cassatt is often celebrated for her intimate and tender portrayals of mothers and their children. However, her emphasis on this subject led 20th-century art historians to dismiss her work as overly sentimental, with one infamous critique from a 1954 Art News review describing her as merely a painter of “tea, clothes, and nursery.” The frequent use of her paintings on greeting cards has only reinforced this perception.

Contemporary scholarship is now challenging this narrow view. Born into a wealthy Philadelphia family, Cassatt faced opposition from her parents when she pursued a career in painting, leading her to fund her own art supplies from a young age. This motivated her to work tirelessly to establish her reputation in a male-dominated field, sacrificing the opportunity to start a family, which she believed would hinder her career.

Feeling stifled by American societal norms, Cassatt moved to Paris at the age of 22 and never looked back. Like many women artists of her time, she was barred from enrolling in the École des Beaux-Arts and found herself limited in her ability to depict the vibrant Parisian life. Instead of seeking out scenes of motherhood, she painted what society permitted her to.

This raises an enduring question: can celebrating traditional female roles and subjects be considered feminist, or is a complete rejection of them necessary? In Cassatt's case, she went beyond many of her predecessors by highlighting the labor of women in domestic settings. Works such as "Mother Combing Child’s Hair" (1879), "Mother About to Wash Her Sleepy Child" (1880), and "The Child’s Bath" (1893) are not only charming but also portray the work involved in motherhood. Furthermore, the women in her paintings were often models, which means a working artist depicted a working model in the role of a mother.

Another layer to consider is Cassatt's clientele. In the late 1800s, the "new woman" emerged in France, challenging traditional social structures. With increased spending power, access to education, and the right to divorce established in 1884, upper-class French women felt threatened by this new identity. Cassatt primarily painted for this demographic, yet her contemporaries noted her lack of sentimentality and the boldness of her style. “No woman,” remarked her friend Edgar Degas, “has a right to draw like that.”

Cassatt's views on Mother's Day were highlighted by Kimberly Jones, curator at the National Gallery of Art, in preparation for a 2014 exhibition exploring her relationship with Degas. Jones noted, “As a staunch supporter of women’s suffrage, she believed that granting women the right to vote was a far more urgent issue.” Cassatt backed this belief by fundraising for the suffrage movement, including donating paintings for a 1915 exhibition in New York that contributed ticket and pamphlet fees to the Woman Suffrage Campaign Fund.

Had Cassatt been free to paint whatever she wished, perhaps her work would not have included secular interpretations of the Madonna and Child. Although she seemed to prioritize suffrage over motherhood, she did find a way to intertwine the two in her artwork. In "Woman with a Sunflower" (1905), she depicts a mother holding a child, with a sunflower—symbolizing the suffrage movement—affixed to her breast.

Sayart / Sharon Jung guhuijeong784@gmail.com