Editing Mary Cassatt (section)

== Philadelphia Education ==

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844, to Robert Simpson Cassatt, a successful stockbroker, and Katherine Kelso Johnston Cassatt. The family moved frequently during Mary's childhood, living in Philadelphia and traveling extensively in Europe, where young Mary was exposed to art museums that sparked her artistic ambitions. The family's wealth and social position provided opportunities unusual for women of her era, including access to education and the freedom to pursue unconventional interests.<ref name="pollock">{{cite book |last=Pollock |first=Griselda |title=Mary Cassatt: Painter of Modern Women |year=1998 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London}}</ref>

Cassatt enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1861, when she was sixteen years old. The Academy, then located on Chestnut Street, was one of America's premier art institutions, though its educational offerings for women remained limited compared to those available to men. Cassatt studied there for four years, learning fundamental techniques while chafing at restrictions that prevented female students from drawing from nude models. Her frustration with American artistic education's limitations motivated her eventual departure for Europe, where she would find both greater artistic freedom and the stimulation of contemporary artistic movements.<ref name="mathews"/>