Mary Cassatt

This picture is called “Mother’s Goodnight Kiss.” It was done by Mary Cassatt in 1888. It is a drawing made with pastel chalks on paper.

Cassatt was an American artist who lived in Paris, France. The city of Paris was the center of the western art world in the late 1800’s. Back then, it was very unusual for a woman to be a professional artist. Lots of women were artists, of course, but they were expected to do it as a hobby…to stay home and just paint things for their friends and families. Cassatt, on the other hand, wanted to create art that was the best in the world. She had to fight her family and most of society to become an artist at this level. In fact, moving to Paris was part of it. There she felt that people took her more seriously than they did back home in Philadelphia.

Still it was hard. For example, it wasn’t proper for a woman to hire a man to model for a painting. A model is someone who sits still in a pose while the artist sketches and paints. So since Cassatt wasn’t supposed to hire male models, she turned to models who were allowed to visit her…women and children.

Now Cassatt is famous for her pictures of moms and babies – usually sleepy babies who would hold still like the little guy in this picture. He does look nearly asleep, chewing on his fingers while his mom rocks him gently.

Cassatt made this artwork with pastel chalks. Pastels are like dry paint made into sticks. The colors are very rich and soft. They blend together easily. When artists work with pastels, they use a special paper with a rough texture. This helps the pastels stick to the paper.

Draw with chalk! Kids often have chunks of chalk for drawing on sidewalks, and that is excellent fun. Try drawing with that chalk on big sheets of sturdy paper, like the insides of paper grocery bags cut apart and laid flat. You can even get the paper a little bit wet first…smooth it down and see how the chalk goes on so smoothly. Draw shapes and color them in with smooth strokes. Mix chalk colors together.

Pastels! There are also sticks of chalk called artist pastels – made for paper, not sidewalks. These chalks are smaller, easier to hold, and come in so many different colors. Such a fun new drawing material for children.