return MARY CASSATT (1844-1926) by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) The daughter of a wealthy Pennsylvania banker, Mary Cassatt moved to Paris in 1874. With the exception of two trips to America in 1898 and 1908, she lived there for the rest of her life. In the late 1870s, she and Edgar Degas, a leading figure among the French Impressionists, became friends, and during the next decade Degas had a profound impact upon her work. Under his guidance, she adopted the fresh colors and effects of light that were central to the new Impressionism. Intrigued by his etchings and by Japanese woodcuts, Cassatt also became a masterful printmaker. Degas undertook this portrait of Cassatt as a token of their friendship. While Cassatt admired the portrait's artistry, she was displeased with her pose and seriousness. She owned the painting until at least 1913, but when she asked a Paris dealer to sell it, she stipulated that it not go to an American collection, where friends and family might see it. Oil on canvas, circa 1880-1884 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Gift of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and the Regents Major Acquisitions Fund, Smithsonian Institution NPG.84.34 return