PRESS KIT

MUSÉE JACQUEMARTANDRÉINSTITUT DE FRANCE

Mary Cassatt, Baby in Dark Blue Suit, Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder, 1883-1885, oil on canvas, 72,9 x 59,9 cm, Inv. CAM 1928.222, Cincinnati Art Museum, John J. Emery Fund © Cincinnati Art Museum

CONTENTSPage 1

PRESS RELEASE

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PREFACE BY BRUNO MONNIER, THE PRESIDENT OF CULTURESPACES

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THE EXHIBITION TEAM

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ITINERARY OF THE EXHIBITION

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MARY CASSATT: IMPORTANT DATES

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VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS

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THE EHIBITION SPONSORS

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THE PARTNERS OF THE EXHIBITION

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THE MUSÉE JACQUEMART-ANDRÉ

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THE INSTITUT DE FRANCE

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CULTURESPACES, PRODUCER OF THE EXHIBITION

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VISITORS INFORMATION TOOLS

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PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS

1 Press kit - Mary Cassatt, an american in Paris

WITH THE EXCEPTIONAL COLLABORATION OF

In the spring of 2018, Culturespaces and the Musée Jacquemart-André will be holding a major retrospective devoted to Mary Cassatt (1844–1926). Considered during her lifetime as the greatest American artist, Cassatt lived in France for more than sixty years. She was the only American painter to have exhibited her work with the Impressionists in Paris.

THE FEMALE REPRESENTATIVE OF IMPRESSIONISMThe exhibition focuses on the only American artist in the Impressionist movement; she was spotted by Degas in the 1874 Salon, and subsequently exhibited her works alongside those of the group. This monographic exhibition will enable visitors to rediscover Mary Cassatt through fifty major works, comprising oils, pastels, and engravings, which, complemented by various documentary sources, will convey her modernist approach — that of an American woman in Paris.

A FRANCO-AMERICAN APPROACH TO PAINTINGBorn into a wealthy family of American bankers with French origins, Mary Cassatt spent a few years in France during her childhood, continuing her studies at the Pennsylvania Fine Arts Academy, and eventually settled in Paris. Therefore, she lived on both continents. This cultural duality is evident in the distinctive style of the artist, who succeeded in making her mark in the male world of French art and reconciling these two worlds.

THE ORIGINALITY OF HER VISIONJust like Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt excelled in the art of portraiture, to which she adopted an experimental approach. Influenced by the Impressionist movement and its painters who liked to depict daily life, Mary Cassatt’s favourite theme was portraying the members of her family, whom she represented in their intimate environment. Her unique vision and modernist interpretation of a traditional theme such as the mother and child earned her international recognition. Through this subject, the general public will discover many familiar aspects of French Impressionism and Postimpressionism, along with new elements that underscore Mary Cassatt’s decidedly American identity.

A PRESTIGIOUS SELECTIONThe exhibition will bring together a selection of exceptional works loaned from major American museums, such as Washington’s National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Terra Foundation in Chicago; works will also be loaned by prestigious institutions in France — the Musée d’Orsay, the Petit Palais, INHA, and the BnF (French National Library) — and in Europe, such as the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, and the Bührle Foundation in Zurich. There will also be many works from private collections. Rarely exhibited, these masterpieces will be brought together in the exhibition for the first time.

Under the patronage of Her Excellency Jamie McCourt, United States Ambassador to the French Republic and the Principality of Monaco

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PREFACE BY BRUNO MONNIER, THE PRESIDENT OF CULTURESPACES

CASSATT: A MODERN WOMAN Although she enjoyed great fame in her lifetime and her work is still very highly regarded in the United States, Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) is now somewhat overlooked in France, and has been eclipsed by her contemporaries Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and her close friend Edgar Degas. Yet, she too was one of the key figures of the Impressionist movement and the only American artist to exhibit her work with the avant-garde group.

In 2011 and 2013, Culturespaces and the Musée Jacquemart-André had paid tribute to major late-nineteenth-century artists, the Caillebotte brothers and Eugène Boudin. This exhibition, devoted to the work of Cassatt, presents another facet of modernism. As a female artist, her life was in many ways paradoxical: as an American, she lived for more than sixty years in France; she trained as an academic artist, but resolutely embraced the new Impressionist approach; although she never had children, she became an unparalleled master of the theme of motherhood; and as a feminist, she became highly successful in an essentially male-dominated artistic scene.

The works that have been exceptionally brought together in the Musée Jacquemart-André have been loaned by major American and European museums, as well as private collections. They retrace the complex career of this artist, whose bold approach is not only evident in the subject matter represented, but also, and primarily, in her taste for experimentation. Indeed, Cassatt never tired of exploring the many challenges and potential of painting, pastels, and engraving. For the first time since her death a retrospective of her work is being held in Paris, and will present her oeuvre in all its variety and modernity.

I would like to thank, in particular, the exhibition curators: Dr Nancy Mowll Mathews—a specialist on Cassatt—, who has managed to highlight the uniqueness of this modern woman and her universal artistic message, and Mr. Pierre Curie, curator at the Musée Jacquemart-André.

I would also like to extend all my gratitude to Her Excellency Jamie McCourt, United States Ambassador to the French Republic and the Principality of Monaco, who graciously granted her patronage to this exhibition, thereby providing us with an opportunity to underline the richness of Franco-American cultural relations.

Bruno MonnierPresident of

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Mary Cassatt, Young women picking fruit, 1892, oil on canvas, 130,8 x 90,2 cm, Inv. 22.8, Carnegie Museum of Art, Patrons Art Fund, Pittsburgh, 1983.1.18, photo © Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Patrons Art Fund

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THE EXHIBITION TEAM

CURATORSHIP

Pierre Curie is chief curator of heritage. Specialist of Italian and Spanish painting of the XVIIth century, he has also worked on the French painting of the XIXth century at the Musée du Petit Palais, where he started his career. Then in charge of the painting at the General Inventory, he has co-authored and led the Vocabulaire typologique et technique de la peinture et du dessin (published in 2009). Appointed head of the painting sector of the restoration department for the Centre de recherche et de restauration des Musées de France in 2007, he coordinated and followed some major restorations of paintings of national museums (Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt, Poussin...). Currently director of the Revue de l’Art, Pierre Curie is curator of the Musée Jacquemart-André since January 2016.

Hubert Le Gall is a French designer, creator and sculptor of contemporary art. Since 2000 he has produced original scenographies for exhibitions, such as for the Musée Jacquemart-André : Rembrandt in confidence (2016), From Zurbaran to Rothko, Alicia Koplowitz Collection (2017), and The Hansen’s Secret Garden, the Ordrupgaard collection (2017).

PROGRAMMATION

Dr. Nancy Mowll Mathews is Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator and Lecturer, Emerita from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She has been researching, publishing, and organizing exhibitions on Mary Cassatt for several decades and is an internationally acclaimed expert. Among her books are Cassatt and Her Circle: Selected Letters (1984), Mary Cassatt (1986), Mary Cassatt: A Retrospective (1996), Mary Cassatt: A Life (1994 and 1998). Her exhibitions with major publications include Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints (1989), Mary Cassatt: Friends and Family (2008). In addition, she has published numerous essays and articles on Cassatt and her context in French and American Impressionism including Monet and the Americans (2015) and Mary Cassatt: Finding Success as an American Artist (2016).

Appointed head of cultural programming and exhibitions for Culturespaces in 2017, Beatrice Avanzi is in charge of the Musée Jacquemart-André, the Musée Maillol and the Hôtel de Caumont-Center d’Art. As conservator of the Musée d’Orsay’s painting department since 2012, she curated major exhibitions such as The Douanier Rousseau - Archaic Candour or Beyond the Stars. The mystical landscape from Monet to Kandinsky.

Agnès Wolff, head of exhibitions, Eleonore Lacaille, exhibitions manager at the Musée Jacquemart-André and Amélie Carrière, régisseur at Culturespaces, have also played an important role in the organization and realization of this exhibition Culturespaces.

SCENOGRAPHY

© Kristin V. Rehder

© Culturespaces / Jean Grisoni

© Culturespaces / I. de Rosen

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ITINERARY OF THE EXHIBITION

ROOM 1 - THE MAKING OF AN IMPRESSIONIST (1868-1879)The works shown in this introductory section of the exhibition show Cassatt’s earliest major Impressionist works and the paintings from the decade leading up to her meeting with Degas. In the pre-Impressionist works it is easy to see Cassatt’s travels around Europe—from Ecouen to Seville, to Rome—in search of “modern art.” These works were exhibited at the Paris Salon or in major exhibitions in the United States in the 1860s and 1870s, making her prominent among peers and drawing the attention of critics and collectors. By 1877, she had even come to the notice of Edgar Degas, who invited her to join the Impressionist group. Her definition of “modern art” was colored by the way newer Parisian trends and Impressionism were understood by the American public. This partially accounts for her experimental approach to Impressionism and her preference for referring to herself as an “Independent.” Also included in this section are several etchings made in conjunction with a print journal that Cassatt, Degas, and Pissarro worked on together. Although the journal was never published, prints such as Cassatt’s The Visitor, are beautiful and symbolic of Cassatt’s self-awareness as a “visitor” in Paris.

Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, Circa 1877-1878, Oil on canvas, 89,5 x 129,8 cm, 1983.1.18,National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. And Mrs. Paul Mellon © Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

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ROOM 2 - WHO WERE THE CASSATT ? (1880-1888)As Mary Cassatt adopted the Impressionist method of painting the daily life around them, she began to use her family as her primary models. In the 1881 Impressionist exhibition, it is likely that all of the works she showed represented Cassatt family members. In this section, the viewer can get to know Mary’s sister, the fashionable Lydia Cassatt, who was the principle model for her Impressionist scenes of women. Also included is her brother Alexander shown with his youngest son, Robert, his wife Lois, and their daughter Katharine, who was seventeen at the time. The family was of French Huguenot descent, a fact that allowed them to feel more at home in France, but at the same time they were quintessential Americans. Mary’s family was wealthy, and she traveled to Europe as a child. Her brother became the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the largest corporation in the world, and thus by 1900 had extreme wealth and influence. With Mary Cassatt becoming one of the best-known women in America and her brother one of the best-known men, the two siblings made an extraordinary pair.

Mary CassattPortrait of Alexander J. Cassatt and His Son, Robert Kelso Cassatt, 1884-1885, Oil on canvas, 100,3 x 81,3 cm, W1959-1-1,Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art© Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund and with funds contributed by Mrs. William Coxe Wright, 1959

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ROOM 3 - MOTHER AND CHILD (1888-1900)For a figure painter who specialized in scenes of daily life, Cassatt has painted mainly scenes of women and children for the first two decades of her career. But starting in the early 1880s, she became interested in scenes of women and children together in the familiar subject we call “Mother and Child,” regardless of whether the two are actually related. And in 1888 the family themes we saw developing in her Impressionist work crystallized into the signature mother and child series that is so identified with Mary Cassatt. This section brings together several examples of her first burst of creativity, carrying out several variations of a pose, such as the child seated on the mother’s lap in oils and pastels as well as delicate drypoints. These works retain the light palette and modern life aspects of Impressionism, but they are also consistent with the new style of Symbolism, which finds the meaning and timelessness in everyday life. Many European and American artists who also became preoccupied with themes of maternity include such well known figures as Paul Gauguin, Maurice Denis, and Eugène Carrière, and the lesser-known Americans, George Hitchcock, Gari Melchers, and Abbott Thayer. By the later 1890s, Cassatt’s work took on what Georges Lecomte called in L’Art Impressioniste (1892) the “Sainte Famille moderne” more overtly, using devices reminiscent of Old Master painting.

Mary Cassatt,Seated Woman with a Child in Her Arms,1889-1890, Oil on canvas, 81 x 65,5 cm,Inv. 82/25, Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao© Bilboko Arte Ederren / Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao

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ROOM 4 - EXPERIMENTATIONS (1890’S)This section of the exhibition is devoted to works in which Cassatt’s creative process is revealed. She was a student of technique—haunting museums, exhibitions of modern art, and other artists’ studios to study the secrets of their line, brushwork, or color. When she discovered Impressionism, not only did she find greater freedom in her own technique, but she learned the appeal of the unfinished or work in progress. These compositions were occasionally used as preliminary sketches for more monumental works, but the majority were exhibited or sold as they were. Whether in oil or pastel, the long lines and visible strokes show the artist thinking and changing her mind as she develops the composition from the center out. Her interest in the creative process is also behind her success as a printmaker. In the series of drypoints she debuted in 1890, she duplicated the unfinished look of the oils and pastels she was doing at the time. She built up the drypoint in thousands of tiny lines yet leaving the composition looking like it has just begun. In her masterful color prints of the next year, she experimented to find a way to suggest Japanese prints using Western intaglio methods. She then exhibited early states of these prints alongside final states, just as can be seen in this section.

Mary Cassatt, The Fitting,1890-1891,Drypoint and color aquatint,37,6 x 25,7 cm, Private collection, courtesy of Marc Rosen Fine Art© Courtesy Marc Rosen Fine Art and Adelson Galleries, New York

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ROOM 5 - MODERNITÉ (1892 – 1915)Mary Cassatt was born into a generation that saw great strides for women around the world. In her youth, she and most Americans believed that women had gained more rights and respect in France than in the United States. As her first adult visit to France stretched into almost sixty years, to become a complete life in France, she felt this to be true in her own experience. “After all, give me France,” she wrote in 1894, “women do not have to fight for recognition here, if they do serious work.” But even though the French and American systems of art production were very different, and women benefited in many ways from the French government spon-sorship of the arts, Cassatt was nevertheless also a product of the American vision of modernity for women. This section presents works related to Cassatt’s huge Modern Woman mural for the Woman’s Building of the Chica-go World’s Fair of 1893, showing her interpretation of the pavilion’s theme, “Women Picking Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.” To Cassatt, the modern woman was a thinking woman, captured in a state of contemplation and ease in the world. The fruit that was picked was to be shared with other women and, yes, with what she believed were “modern” children. After 1900, she was frequently asked to do portraits of her friend’s children, whose enormous hats were not only up to the minute in style, but radiate the color and light of the thoughts of these contemplative children, the future of the modern world.

In 1915, she and her friend Louisine Havemeyer mounted an exhibition in New York of her work alongside that of Degas and selected Old Masters. It was to benefit the Woman’s Suffrage Movement in which Havemeyer was a visible leader. Although this was Cassatt’s only overtly political act, it crowned a lifetime of private actions that showed her support for the achievements of women, and her belief in her own effectiveness as an artist and a pioneer.

Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child (The Oval Mirror),1899, Oil on canvas, 81,6 x 65,7 cm, Inv. 29.100.47, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection H.O Havemeyer, bequest de Mme H.O Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.47)© The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image of the MMA

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Mary Cassatt, Woman bathing (La Toilette), 1890-91, drypoint and color aquatint, 36,5 x 27 cm, private collection , Breeskin 148; Mathews and Shapiro © Courtesy Marc Rosen Fine Art and Adelson Galleries, New York

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MARY CASSATT: IMPORTANT DATES

1844

22 May: Mary Stevenson Cassatt is born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh).

1850-1855 The Cassatts travel in Europe, spending long periods in Paris. They return to Philadelphia in 1855.

1860 At the age of sixteen, Mary Cassatt begins her art studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia until 1865, then she moves to Paris.

1868

The Mandolin Player is accepted at the 1868 Salon.

1874 Her painting, Ida, is accepted at the 1874 Salon. She meets Louisine Elder, the future Mrs Havemeyer, who becomes a close friend and a major collector of Impressionist works, with Cassatt’s guidance.

1877 The two works submitted by Cassatt to the 1877 Salon are rejected. She accepts Degas’s invitation to join the Impressionist group.

1878 She submits two paintings to the American Pavilion of the Exposition Universelle. Considered too radical, The Blue Room is rejected.

1879 Cassatt exhibits with the Impressionists for the first time. Degas, Pissarro, Bracquemond, and Cassatt attempt to create a new journal devoted to engraving, called Le Jour et la Nuit. It is never published, but Cassatt begins a very successful career as an engraver.

1881 Several of the paintings (representing members of her family) she executed the summer before are shown in the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in 1881. She begins her long-term collaboration with Paul Durand-Ruel.

1886 Durand-Ruel organises the first large exhibition of Impressionist works in New York, including two by Cassatt. The Impressionists organise their Eighth and last exhibition to which she contributes seven paintings and pastels. She also helps to fund the exhibition.

1889 Cassatt joins a new group called the Société des Peintres-Graveurs (‘Society of painters and engravers’), which holds regular exhibitions at the Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris.

1890 For the second exhibition of the Société des Peintres-Graveurs, Cassatt completes a major set of twelve dry points that are acquired by the French State. She visits the major exhibition of Japanese prints held at the École des Beaux-Arts and she begins a set of ten colour prints using dry point and aquatint in the Japanese manner.

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1891 Pissarro and Cassatt are excluded from the third exhibition of the Peintres-Graveurs after the decision is taken to limit entry to artists with French citizenship. Durand-Ruel provides each of them with their own galleries next to the group exhibition. Hence, Cassatt holds her first solo exhibition.

1892

American art agent Sara Hallowell, acting on behalf of the committee, invites Cassatt to paint a large mural, called Modern Woman, for the Woman’s Building of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

1893

Durand-Ruel gives her a major exhibition in Paris and she becomes widely known in France as the painter of the Modern Madonna.

1894 She buys the Château de Beaufresne, in Oise.

1895 The Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York holds Cassatt’s first solo exhibition in the United States.

1904

Cassatt is awarded the Légion d’Honneur.

1905

She begins to collaborate with the art dealer Ambroise Vollard.

1908 Cassatt visits the United States for the last time with Louisine Havemeyer. She is greeted as a celebrity upon her arrival in New York. Vollard and Durand-Ruel hold exhibitions of her work in Paris. The Durand-Ruel exhibition is held in New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC.

1914 At the outbreak of the World War I, Cassatt is forced to leave Beaufresne. Her eyesight is failing and she undergoes a series of unsuccessful cataract operations. She cannot continue to work.

1915 Louisine Havemeyer organises a major exhibition in New York at the M. Knoedler & Co. Gallery, entitled ‘Suffrage Loan Exhibition of Old Masters and Works by Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt’.

1918

At the end of World War I, Cassatt is able to leave the south of France and return to Paris and Beaufresne.

1926 Suffering from diabetes, Cassatt dies at the age of eighty-two. The world is in mourning and seven memorial exhibitions are held across Paris and the United States.

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VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS

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1 | Mary Cassatt, Portrait of Alexander J. Cassatt and His Son, Robert Kelso Cassatt, 1884-1885, oil on canvas,100,3 x 81,3 cm, Inv. W1959-1-1 © Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund and with funds contributed by Mrs. William Coxe Wright, 19592 | Mary Cassatt, The Cup of Tea, circa 1880-81, oil on canvas, 92,4 x 65,4 cm, Inv. 22.16.1, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, From the Collection of James Stillman, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, 1922 © Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image of the MMA3 | Mary Cassatt, In the lodge, 1878, oil on canvas, 81,3 x 66 cm, Inv. 10.35, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, The Hayden Collection - Charles Henry Hayden Fund © 2018 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston4 | Mary Cassatt, Mère en robe rose tenant son bébé nu, vers 1914, huile sur toile, 83 x 66,5 cm, collection particulière suisse © Bailly Gallery, Genève5 | Mary Cassatt, Feeding the ducks, circa 1895, drypoint, softground etching, and color aquatint 29,9 x 40 cm, Inv. EM CASSATT 13, Paris, Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Bibliothèque, collections Jacques Doucet © Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art

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6 | Mary Cassatt, Seated Woman with a Child in Her Arms, 1889-1890, oil on canvas, 81 x 65,5 cm, Inv. 82/25, Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao © Bilboko Arte Ederren / Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao7 | Mary Cassatt, Music, 1874, oil on canvas, 98,2 x 68,7 cm, Inv. PPP3737, Paris, Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris © RMN-Grand Palais / Agence Bulloz8 | Mary Cassatt, Baby in Dark Blue Suit, Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder, circa 1889, oil on canvas, 72,9 x 59,9 cm, Inv. CAM 1928.222, Cincinnati Art Museum, John J. Emery Fund © Cincinnati Art Museum9 | Mary Cassatt, Summertime, 1894-95, oil on canvas, 100,6 x 81,3 cm, Inv. 1988.25, Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1988.25 © Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago

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10 | Mary Cassatt, Portrait of Mademoiselle Louise-Aurore Villeboeuf, 1901, pastel on beige paper, 72,7 x 60 cm, Inv. RF 36822, musée d’Orsay, Paris, don de Mlle Louise-Aurore Villeboeuf, 1978 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski11 | Mary Cassatt, Young women picking fruit, 1892, oil on canvas, 130,8 x 90,2 cm, Inv. 22.8, Carnegie Museum of Art, Patrons Art Fund, Pittsburgh, 1983.1.18, photo © Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Patrons Art Fund12 | Mary Cassatt, Baby on Mother’s Arm, circa 1891, oil on canvas, 63,5 x 50,17 cm, Inv. 2003.15, Philadelphie, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Bequest of Peter Borie © Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Bequest of Peter Borie13 | Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878, oil on canvas, 89,5 x 129,8 cm, Inv. 1983.1.18, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. And Mrs. Paul Mellon © Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington14 | Mary Cassatt, Woman bathing, 1890-1891, drypoint and color aquatint, 36,5 x 27 cm, private collection © Courtesy Marc Rosen Fine Art and Adelson Galleries, New York

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15 | Mary Cassatt, Woman and child in front of a tablet where a pitcher and a bowl are placed, circa 1893, pastel on beige papier, 65 x 50 cm, Inv. RF 31843, Paris, musée d’Orsay, gift of M. Jean-Pierre Hugot and of Mlle Louise Hugot © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski16 | Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child (The Oval Mirror), 1899, oil on canvas, 81,6 x 65,7 cm, Inv. 29.100.47, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection H.O Havemeyer, lent by Mme H.O Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.47) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image of the MMA17 | Mary Cassatt, Mother and chlid : Green dress, circa 1894, strong water, dry-point and aquatint in colors, 29,8 x 24,1 cm, Inv. EM CASSATT 12, Paris, Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Bibliothèque, collections Jacques Doucet © Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art18 | Mary Cassatt, By omnibus (or interior of a tram passing over a bridge), circa 1890-1891, dry-point and soft varnish,38,4 x 26,7 cm, Inv. RESERVE CE-4 (2) - FOL RC-A-08630, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, photo © BnF, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image BnF

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THE EHIBITION SPONSORS

THE EXHIBITION SPONSOR: THE CRÉDIT DU NORDIn 2018, the Crédit du Nord is pleased and proud to celebrate ten years of partnership with the Musée Jacquemart-André. This represents ten years of trust, exchange, and interchange between our two establishments, which have managed to forge close links by collaborating on many splendid exhibitions, such as ‘Les Primitifs italiens. La collection d’Altenbourg’ (‘The Italian Primitives. The Altenbourg Collection’), ‘Dans l’intimité des frères Caillebotte’ (‘Inside the World of the Caillebotte Brothers’), ‘Eugène Boudin’, ‘L’atelier en plein air. Les impressionnistes en Normandie’ (‘The open-air studio - Impressionists in Normandy’), and ‘Rembrandt intime’ (‘Inside Rembrandt’s World’).

To mark this ten-year anniversary, the Crédit du Nord decided to collaborate with the Musée Jacquemart-André, which this spring is holding the first retrospective exhibition devoted to Mary Cassatt, the only American female artist involved with the Impressionists. Mary passed away at the age of eighty-three after living for more than sixty years in France, and she was a close friend of Degas and Berthe Morisot. Her painting was very feminine and focused on portraiture, which she truly mastered.

As a longstanding sponsor, the Groupe Crédit du Nord has been involved for many years in cultural events, an approach shared by all of the Groupe’s banks. Each of them has strong regional roots and adopts the same strategy, with a focus on proximity, expertise, and the quality of the relations with its clients. Via its sponsorship policy, the Groupe Crédit du Nord is promoting the culture of various regions by enabling all kinds of audiences to have access to culture.

ABOUT THE GROUPE CRÉDIT DU NORDThe Groupe Crédit du Nord comprises eight regional banks—Courtois, Kolb, Laydernier, Nuger, Rhône-Alpes, Société Marseillaise de Crédit, Tarneaud, and Crédit du Nord—and an investment services provider, the stockbroking company, Gilbert Dupont.

With 8,800 employees and its network of 860 agencies, the Groupe Crédit du Nord serves almost 2 million private clients, 290,000 professionals and associations, and 45,000 companies and institutions.

The various entities of the Groupe Crédit du Nord manage their activities with great autonomy, which results in rapid decision-making and great reactivity with regard to the needs of their clients.

The strategy employed by the Group’s banks is based on three core aims: • to be a benchmark in terms of the quality of customer relations; • to develop a high degree of individual and collective professionalism; • and to offer customers state-of-the-art services and technologies.

The quality and strength of Groupe Crédit du Nord Group’s results are recognised by the market and through Standard & Poor’s long-term rating of A and Fitch’s rating of A.

Groupe Crédit du Nord is a wholly owned subsidiary of Société Générale.

For more information, visit www.groupe-credit-du-nord.com

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THE EXHIBITION SPONSOR: EVERSHEDS SUTHERLANDThe international law firm Eversheds Sutherland is proud to support the Musée Jacquemart André, which is holding the exhibition ‘Mary Cassatt, une impressionniste américaine à Paris’ (‘Mary Cassatt: an American Impressionist in Paris’) from 9 March to 23 July 2018.

The international nature of this cultural project, the fact that it focuses on an artist who was exceptional in her time, and the link it represents between France and the United States make this sponsorship particularly important for Eversheds Sutherland, a year after the extension of our network on the other side of the Atlantic via the merger with the American law firm Sutherland.

By helping to fund this exhibition, we are continuing the law firm’s policy of extensive sponsorship in the world of the arts, in various regions of the world. We are also happy to contribute to the promotion of the French heritage and outstanding works of art.

ABOUT EVERSHEDS SUTHERLANDEversheds Sutherland is an international network of over 2,400 lawyers in 66 offices and 32 countries. The firm’s international presence combined with its knowledge of local markets make Eversheds Sutherland one of the leading corporate law firms in the world.

Present in the major cities in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States, the law firm has been operating in Paris since 1984. Eversheds Sutherland France has close to 80 lawyers who provide a comprehensive range of services to public and private companies, and financial institutions, covering all aspects of corporate law.

Whatever the size of the project, the nature of the case, or the country, our lawyers advise clients on a whole range of legal issues in sectors as varied as industry, energy, luxury goods, services, and infrastructure.

PRESS CONTACTNicolas Leviaux Agence Eliott & MarkusT. + 33 1 53 41 89 99n.leviaux@eliott-markus.com

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THE PARTNERS OF THE EXHIBITION

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THE MUSÉE JACQUEMART-ANDRÉ

Owned by the Institut de France, the musée Jacquemart-André has been developed and managed by Culturespaces since 1996. The musée Jacquemart-André, the home of collectors from the late 19th century, offers the public, in this temple of art, numerous works of art bearing the most famous signatures of :• Italian Renaissance art : Della Robbia, Bellini, Mantegna, Uccello, etc.• Flemish painting : Rembrandt, Hals, Ruysdaël, etc.• French painting of the 18th century: Boucher, Chardin, Fragonard, Vigée-Lebrun, etc. together with significant items of furniture, indicative of Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart’s taste for the decorative arts.

This collection, unique in terms of both its quality and the diversity of the works it contains, boasts exceptional visitor facilities which makes it accessible to everyone. With more than 2 millions visitors since it reopened in March 1996, the Musée Jacquemart-André is one of the top museums in Paris.The André mansion very quickly became the Jacquemart-André mansion, so great was the role which Nélie Jacquemart was able to play in its evolution and development.

This mansion and its collections appear today as the legacy which this wealthy and childless couple, who dedicated their lives to the finest aspects of art, wished to leave to posterity. The beneficiary of this asset, the Institut de France, has since strived to ensure that Nélie Jacquemart’s wishes are respected and to introduce her lovingly compiled collections to as many people as possible.

Today there are fifteen magnificent exhibition rooms, the most intimate of reception rooms, still exquisitely decorated, occupying almost 1,000 m², which are open to visitors to the Musée Jacquemart- André. The restoration and renovation work undertaken in 1996, with a view to reopening to the public, was intended to make, as far as possible, the mansion feel like a home, so that visitors would find themselves surrounded by the warmth of a living, welcoming, rather than educational, setting. Art, the lifeblood of Édouard and Nélie André, enabled this pair of collectors to gather, in just a few decades, almost 5,000 works, many of which are of exceptional quality.

To satisfy their eclectic tastes, the Andrés were able, with rigour and determination, to call on the greatest antiques dealers and traders, travel the world in search of rare objects, spend considerable sums of money on masterpieces, sacrifice second-rate pieces - and sometimes even return them to the seller - in order to be true to their criteria of excellence, which makes the Jacquemart-André mansion a top international museum. Like the Frick Collection in New York, the musée Jacquemart-André combines presenting an exceptional 19th century collectors’ house with visitor facilities which meet the expectations of people today.

www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com

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THE INSTITUT DE FRANCE

Created in 1795 in order to contribute on a non-profit basis to the renown of the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, the Institute de France (French Institute) groups together five academies: the French Academy, the Academy of inscriptions & belles-lettres, the Academy of sciences, Academy of fine arts and the Academy of moral & political sciences.

At the same time, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions practicing philanthropy and administering donations and legacies. For two centuries, it has housed foundations and awarded prizes that play an unparalleled role in modern philanthropy. Created by individuals or companies, the Institute’s foundations and prizes benefit from the experience of this secular institution in the areas of sponsorship and philanthropy, as well as from the proficiency of academicians in their fields of expertise.

The Institute also owns an important artistic heritage, consisting of residences and exceptional collections of that have been bequeathed to it since the late 19th century; in particular: the Château de Chantilly, the Musée Jacquemart-André, the abbey de Chaalis, the chateau de Langeais, the manoir de Kerazan as well as the Villa Kérylos.

www.institut-de-france.fr

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CULTURESPACES, PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF THE EXHIBITION

Culturespaces produces and manages, with an ethical and professional approach, monuments, museums and prestigious historic sites entrusted to it by public bodies and local authorities.

These include the musée Jacquemart-André in Paris and musée Maillol in Paris, the Ephrussi de Rothschild on the French Riviera, the Roman Theatre of Orange, the Château des Baux-de-Provence, the Carrières de Lumières, the Nîmes Arena, the National Automobile in Mulhouse...

It is thanks to these management methods, approved by AFNOR, that Culturespaces has been awarded ISO 9001 certification for the quality of the services it provides and its successful management of cultu-ral heritage. Culturespaces welcomes thus more than 2,5 millions visitors each year. In 25 years, in close collaboration with curators and art historians, Culturespaces has organised many temporary exhibitions of international standing in Paris and in the regions.

Culturespaces manages the whole chain of production for each exhibition, in close collaboration with the public owner, the curator and the exhibition sponsor: programming, loans, transport, insurance, set design, communications, partnership and sponsorship, catalogues and spin-off products. Today Cultures-paces works with some of the most prestigious national and international museums in the world. Recent exhibitions organised at the Musée Jacquemart-André :

Recent exhibitions organised at the Musée Jacquemart-André :

2017 The Hansen’s Garden: the Ordrupgaard Collection2017 From Zurbaran to Rothko - Alicia Koplowitz Collection - Grupo Omega Capital 2016 Rembrandt in confidence2016 The open-air studio, The Impressionists in Normandy 2015 Florence, Portraits at the Court of the Medicis2015 From Giotto to Caravaggio, the passions of Roberto Longhi2014 Pietro Perugino, Master of Raphael2014 From Watteau to Fragonard, les fêtes galantes2013 Désirs & Volupté, Victorian masterpieces from the Perez Simon collection2013 Eugène Boudin2012 Canaletto – Guardi, the two Masters of Venice2012 The Twilight of the Pharaohs2011 Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light2011 The Caillebotte brothers’ private world. Painter and photographer2010 Rubens, Poussin and 17th century artists2010 From El Greco to Dalí. The great Spanish masters. The Pérez Simón collection2009 Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck… The Brukenthal Collection2009 The Italian Primitives. Masterpieces of the Altenbourg Collection 2008 Van Dyck2007 Fragonard2006 The Thracians’ Gold

www.culturespaces.com

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VISITORS INFORMATION TOOLS

THE CATALOGUETo complement the exhibition ‘Mary Cassatt, une impressionniste américaine à Paris’ (‘Mary Cassatt: an American Impressionist in Paris’), Culturespaces and Fonds Mercator are publishing a 176-page catalogue that includes all the works presented in the exhibition.

The richly illustrated catalogue retraces the career and choices made by Cassatt, a female artist with an incredibly modern approach, who gave her work a universal quality.

On sale for €32 in the musée Jacquemart-André’s cultural gift shop and online: www.boutique-culturespaces.com

A SPECIAL EDITION OF CONNAISSANCE DES ARTSThe special edition of Connaissance des Arts provides a very interesting overview of the theme of the exhibition. It focuses in particular on Cassatt’s encounter with Degas and the many variations of the mother and child theme in her work.

On sale for €9.50 in the musée Jacquemart-André’s cultural gift shop and online: www.boutique-culturespaces.com

THE «JOURNAL DE L’EXPO» BEAUX-ARTS MAGAZINEThe ‘Journal de l’expo’ Beaux Arts magazine retraces Cassatt’s life and explores the various facets of her work in order to highlight her technical inventiveness. Several portfolios highlight the artist’s major works.

On sale for €5 in the cultural gift shop.

THE GUIDED TOUR FOR SMARTPHONE AND TABLETThis application, which is available in French and English, enables you to discover the finest works in the exhibition thanks to around twenty audio commentaries and the exhibition preview. The visit is in very high definition with an exceptional zoom depth.

Cost: €2.99

THE AUDIO GUIDEAn audio guide with a selection of major works is available in two languages (French and English) at a cost of €3.

THE ACTIVITY BOOK FOR YOUNG CHILDRENGiven freely to each child (7–12 years old) who visits the exhibition, this activity book provides a guide that enables youngsters to observe, in an entertaining way, the major works in the exhibition by solving various puzzles.

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PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS

Musée Jacquemart-André facebook.com/MuseeJacquemartAndre

@jacquemartandre twitter.com/jacquemartandre

@jacquemartandre instagram.com/jacquemartandre

ADDRESSMusée Jacquemart-André 158 boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com

ACCESSMetro : Lines 9 and 13, Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil or Saint-Philippe du Roule Train (RER) : Line A, Charles de Gaulle-Étoile Bus : 22, 43, 52, 54, 28, 80, 83, 84, 93

OPENING TIMESOpen 365 days a year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Late night opening on Mondays until 8.30 pm during exhibitions.

RATESFull rate : € 13,50 I Reduced rate : € 10,50 Audioguide : exhibition : € 3 Offers for families (2 adults + 2 childs aged 7-17) : € 42 Reduced rate for children aged 7-17, students and unemployed (on presentation of written proof).

The café jacquemart-andré The café is opened from Monday to Friday from 11.45 am to 5.30 pm and from 11 am to 5.30 pm on Sunday for brunch (until 2.30 pm).

CONTACTSFanny Ménégaux Head of Communication and Marketing fanny.menegaux@culturespaces.com

Oriane de Coninck Press relationsoriane.deconinck@culturespaces.com T. +33(0)1 53 77 21 36

PRESS CONTACTClaudine Colin Communication Damien Laval damien@claudinecolin.com T. +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 Visuals to download on www.claudinecolin.com

158 bd Haussmann 75008 Paris Open every day, from 10am to 6pmLate night opening on Mondays until 8.30pm during exhibitions

www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com

PRESS CONTACTClaudine Colin Communicationdamien lavaldamien@claudinecolin.com T. +33(0)1 42 72 60 01

MUSÉE JACQUEMART- ANDRÉINSTITUT DE FRANCE