Mary Cassatt
Guiding Question: How does art reflect society?
Big Idea: Art as Activism
Students will examine two pieces of Mary Cassatt’s impression art. They will make connections between art and the events of the historical time period. Students will determine the effectiveness that Cassatt’s art had in challenging traditional views and roles of women and predict how Cassatt’s might appear in the modern era.
15-30 minutes recommended
The goal of this lesson is to prepare students to create an informed argument pertaining to the use of art to tell a story about a historical event or movement.
Upon completion of this lesson, students should be able to exhibit the ability to:
- analyze visual images
- communicate opinions and facts
- link historical and social context to art
- understand Cassatt’s art, and the work of others, can be used to challenge social views and share messages
Supporting Questions:
- Can you infer emotions based on the images in Cassatt’s work?
- How did Mary Cassatt’s work reflect the societal views and roles of women in the 1800s?
- How are women represented in Cassatt’s work?
- How do the settings of Cassatt’s work represent the traditional views of women during the time period?
- Students should know the definition of impressionist art.
- Students completing this lesson should have prior knowledge regarding social roles held during the time and the roots of the women’s suffrage movement. THIS timeline is an excellent resource to use with students.
- NWHM Women’s Suffrage Timeline
- Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool
- Library of Congress The corner of the sofa image
- Project Zero Think, Pair, Share thinking tool
- A Woman and a Girl Driving piece (public domain source)
- The Last Laugh: Suffragettes and Mary Cassatt
- Street Art Museum Tours: Mary Cassatt and the Women’s Suffrage Movement
- Mary Cassatt’s Independent, Feminist Spirit
- Mary Cassatt’s Suffragist Symbolism
Warm Up: (10 minutes)
Provide students with the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool and explain each section so that students understand what should be recorded. Model for the class, by sharing one thing that you observe about the piece and telling students where you will write that observation.
Project Mary Cassatt’s The corner of the sofa piece from the Library of Congress for the class to view.
Give students 2-3 minutes to complete the analysis tool sheet. If needed, prompt students to move on to each section at regular intervals.
Then, as a class, spend 3-5 minutes discussing student responses. The teacher can provide specific questions to help further discussion. For example, ask students if they might question if there is meaning behind the facial expression of the subject.
The goal is to get students to connect Cassatt’s art to society’s view, and role, of women during the time period.
Activity: (10 minutes)
Students should analyze Mary Cassatt’s A Woman and a Girl Driving piece (public domain source) using the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool. Then, students should participate in a Think, Pair, Share to discuss any similarities and/or differences between Cassatt’s The corner of the sofa and Cassatt’s A Woman and a Girl Driving pieces.
Students will create a written reflection that uses evidence from the images analyzed in class to:
- promote historical empathy as they consider how Cassatt’s work was viewed during the time and/or how women felt when viewing art that represented their experiences by comparing the social norm views that women should be in the home and caring for children and their progressive activism in the fight for suffrage
- make a claim about the effectiveness of Cassatt’s art in challenging social views and roles of women during the 1800s
- predict how Cassatt would depict women in impressionism art if she were alive today
- use evidence from the pieces analyzed in class to support their claim and prediction
- This lesson can be modified by adding specific questions or topics to help various learners. For example, the teacher can provide subheadings (ex: clothing) or questions (ex: How does the woman feel? Why do you think that?) under the observe section of the Primary Analysis Tool to help guide student analysis.
- Teachers can also use the Project Zero Connect, Extend, Challenge thinking tool to have students answer the provided questions in place of the written reflection.
Additional sources and suggestions for extension projects
- Library of Congress Mary Cassatt Resource Guide
- Library of Congress Art and Law in the Women’s Suffrage Movement
C3 Standards:
- D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.
- D2.His.9.9-12. Analyze the relationship between historical sources and the secondary interpretations made from them.
- D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past
This biography is sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University. Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.
For further information or questions, please contact [email protected].