Mary Cassatt at Work
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Purchase the Official Exhibition Catalogue: Mary Cassatt at Work
Drawing on previously unpublished letters, Cassatt family correspondence, and groundbreaking insights from technical examination of her works, Cassatt’s carefully constructed professional identity is placed within the wider social context of Parisian modernity.
- Maker Spotlight
- About the Exhibit
Maker Spotlight
We partnered with different vendors and makers to bring you products inspired by the themes and key imagery from Mary Cassatt at Work. Learn more about our partners, their process, and the unique products they created just for this special exhibition.
Shane Confectionery - Philadelphia, PA
Shane Confectionery, located in Old City, Philadelphia, is America's oldest continuously operating confectionery.
In celebration of the exhibition Mary Cassatt at Work, the Philadelphia Museum of Art teamed up with the historic Shane Chocolate Works & Confectionery company to create handmade caramels inspired by Mary Cassatt’s own recipe, shared with us by the exhibition curators.
These exceptionally delicious chocolate-dipped caramels with honey come beautifully packaged in a box featuring The Letter, 1890-1891, a color print by Mary Cassatt.
Inside, you will find a portion of the recipe in Cassatt’s own handwriting printed on vellum paper. These special caramels are exclusive to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
About the Exhibit
A celebrated member of the French Impressionists, Pennsylvania-born Mary Cassatt challenged the conventional expectations of Philadelphia’s elite.
In Paris, Cassatt committed herself to a career as a professional artist and made the social, intellectual, and working lives of modern women a core subject of her prints, paintings, and pastels. Though recognized in her lifetime for her intimate depictions of women and children, Cassatt has yet to be appreciated for her serious engagement with the realities of gender and labor in her portrayal of other traditionally feminine activities, such as embroidery, reading, or making social appearances.
These depictions lie at the heart of Mary Cassatt at Work, which will present over 130 diverse works that follow the artist’s evolving practice and demonstrate her interest in the “serious work” of artmaking. The exhibition will present new findings about the materials she used and her processes—which were advanced for her era—as it coincides with a detailed technical study of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s significant Cassatt holdings.
Mary Cassatt at Work is the first major showing of the artist’s oeuvre since 1998–99. By considering her professionalism, her biography, and the wider Parisian world she inhabited, a richer and more complex picture of Cassatt develops, inviting contemporary conversations about gender, work, and artistic agency.
Maker Spotlight
Bucks County artist Laurie Carretta Scupp of RiverHorse Studios is a maker of ceramic sculpture as well as functional work.
Ms. Scupp met the challenge of making a collection of Mary Cassatt-inspired work by playing with the themes she observed in Cassatt's paintings & prints. Her whimsical, hand-painted, and modern interpretations are each unique in detail. Today’s women are depicted reading, embroidering, and tending to children, all with charming details on the bottom of each piece.
These one-of-a-kind ceramics are handmade in Bucks County, PA. Perfect for practical use or as art objects, these pieces are sure to bring a touch of playfulness to your home.
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