MARY CASSATT AND THOMAS EAKINS IN GENDER ROLES

     The late 19th Century was an interesting time for the Art World in Europe. There were a number of different movements happening at the time such as Impressionism, Expressionism, and other isms. Retrospectively the participation of women artist seem minimal in comparison to to that of their male counterparts. Issues of gender and gender roles played a big part in this. I will examine two artists, a male and a female, and how they represented gender and gender roles in their artwork.

Mary Cassatt. Five O' Clock Tea. 1880

     The artists I will examine are Thomas Eakins (July 25th, 1844-June 25th, 1916) and Mary Cassatt (May 22, 1844-June 14th, 1926). Eakins painted the human figure in various poses or doing various activities. Mary Cassatt did the same thing. The difference lies in the way they are represented. Eakins painted male nudes sometimes involved in leisurely activities or playing sports. Cassatt on the other hand painted women, sometimes friends or relatives, involved in activities that women at that time enjoyed. Most of these activities involved motherhood or simply doing simple things like conversing with friends or drinking tea. The question is; why this contrast?
   
     Why are Cassatt's models drinking tea or playing with babies while Eakins' are either playing sports or hanging out naked? Male artists at the time and in times prior painted females either nude or in the company of a man with the man as the central figure. The female nudes were often painted with the "male gaze" in mind. Cassatt's art changed that. She represented women, fully clothes and not paying any attention to the viewer. The women were mostly mothers with children and if it were a self portrait the women were presented as powerful and strong. Eakins did something strikingly different in his treatment of some of his subjects.

Thomas Eakins. The Wrestlers.

     Eakins often painted men and women naked. Sometimes the women were looking at the audience in anticipation of the male gaze but the men were doing what Cassatt's models were doing; not paying attention to the audience! Eakins' models were either wrestling or involved in some sport activity. Now comes the issues of gender roles.

Mary Cassatt. A Woman and Child in The Driving Seat. 1881

     While Eakins painted his male figures at rest or in leisure and some of his female figures satisfying the male gaze, Cassatt painted hers enjoying life and at leisure with their clothes on. The roles of both the male and female genders were set at the time. The thinking of the time was that women belonged in the house tending to children and doing house work. Cassatt often painted women doing those things and other things as well. She has paintings of women playing musical instruments and driving horse and buggies with their children. Her intended audience weren't all male but females as well. Gender roles would not be restricted to simply being some sort of house keeper. This was the key difference between the two artists, the way the subject was presented.

Thomas Eakins. Arcadia. 

     The next difference is the style in which these two artists painted. While Eakins painted in the traditional style with classical canons of proportion using scientific perspective, direct lighting and what not, Cassatt destroyed all of this as if to say she was destroying the paradigms of restriction. She became a prominent member of the impressionist movement and lived life without too much restriction. Eakins on the other hand lived by set rules that didn't make him much different from any other person of the day.

     To conclude what I am saying I say that Cassatt broke through the fallacy of gender roles and poked the male gaze in the eye with her painting and style. Eakins on the other hand represented the perpetuation of these societal ideas in art. While Cassatt enjoyed her freedom in Paris, Eakins returned back to his comfort zone in America and died alone.