3: Cassatt and a Code of Conduct

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Mary Cassatt
The Child's Bath, 1893
Oil on canvas, w66.1 cm x h100.3 cm (26" x 39.5")
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA

https://everydayartcritique.blogspot.com/2017/10/het-melkmeisje-milkmaid.html

Some continuing thoughts on "subversive" elements in genre painting today, with The Child's Bath by Mary Cassatt.

Cassatt became well-known for her many, many depictions of mother-child relationships, the above being my favorite example. (A short analysis by the Art Institute here.) And as far as 'subversion' goes, Cassatt's interesting to look at, because her work/life seems to offer a pretty mixed bag. Some of the ambiguous balancing-outs:
  • She offered many portrayals of women lovingly fulfilling their traditional role as mother in the home.  —  These depictions, while kind, are notoriously unsentimental, and focused on these women and children as individuals and people above and beyond their 'roles'.
  • She focused almost exclusively on portraits of women and children in normal attitudes, that focus creating an increasingly significant weight.  —  The focus on women/children was not intentional, but rather practical, as the domestic sphere was where Cassatt herself was confined as a 'respectable' woman.
  • It doesn't seem that she set out to make her work into a social 'statement'.  —  She herself never married or had children (explicitly for the sake of having more time/energy for her work), she did come out in favor of suffrage at the cost of some personal relationships, and she did execute a mural (now lost1) on 'The Modern Woman' for a World's Fair exhibition which offended some sensibilities (with suggestions such as "ongoing and expanded education for women is a positive thing", quelle horreur).
  • Her work was popular even within her life.  —  Her work was dismissed, and/or scorned. 
So when we have an artist like this, what to make of it? Here, I'll just say again that I think there's an inherent danger to working with the 'genre' genre, to attempting a take on what constitutes 'normal'. Cassatt could have lived quietly, painted fruit bowls and flowers, and left no whiff of 'ideology' for people to get miffed at. But as soon as your focus is the people you know, going about their lives, and you portray them as real with all the dignity (and maybe some of the humor) that that entails...well, that shouldn't cause any trouble at all, but it may when you've got an audience who's already decided what your portrayal should look like, and then the work you do doesn't match. Or when your audience doesn't like that you're paying attention to certain subjects in the first place. Or when what you're doing is fine, but what you're omitting is sending a message. Or when even all your work is fine, but it's your life they object to (a tough one!), and the details of your biography are seen as adding unacceptable overtones to the artwork. And thus do many genre artists end up 'political' by default — not really because of their actions, but because of others' reactions2. 

But hey, can't please all the people all the time and what can you do.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


NOTES:

1.  Here's a link to learn more about this mural and the overall project at the fair, but I warn you in advance that it's green text on a black background. I apologize heartily for that design choice, and for any eye strain or headache that may result.

2. And also sometimes because of their actions. Cheers to the troublemakers ;)