Despite being a prolific painter of women, Mary Cassatt detested being described as a ‘woman painter’. Cassatt was born in America and became one of America’s most well-known artists.
Mary Cassatt made a career painting the lives of the women around her. Her radical images showed them as intellectual, feminine and real, which was a major shift in the way women appeared in art.
Presenting her astonishing prints, pastels and paintings, this film introduces us to the often-overlooked Impressionist whose own career was as full of contradiction as the women she painted. She printed, sketched, and painted dozens of images of mothers and children yet she never married or had children herself. She was a classically trained artist but chose to join a group of Parisian radicals - the Impressionists – a movement that transformed the language of art. The world’s most eminent Cassatt curators and scholars help tell this riveting tale of great social and cultural change; a time when women were fighting for their rights and the language of art was completely re-written. Mary Cassatt and her modern women were at the heart of it all.
“I am tremendously excited to introduce another world premiere at the Chichester International Film Festival – this time our film on Mary Cassatt. She was an extraordinary woman and artist, living in extraordinary times. As one of the remarkable group of late 19th century impressionists working in Paris, her work was both gorgeous and meaningful – and her role as a concurrent art dealer was hugely significant to where so many of the masterpieces of that era ended up. I know the lovely, cultured audience in Chichester will be enthralled.” Regards, Phil Grabsky Director/Producer
We are delighted to welcome Phil Grabsky, producer of this documentary and the Exhibition on Screen to introduce this World Premiere, and host a Q&A afterwards..
