Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, She was one of three female Impressionists. Cassatt is best know for her paintings of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. Though her family objected to her becoming a professional artist, Cassatt began studying painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia at the early age of 15. Part of her parents' concern may have been CassattÕs exposure to feminist ideas and the bohemian behavior of some of the male students. Although about 20 percent of the students were female, most viewed art as a socially valuable skill; few of them were determined, as Cassatt was, to make art their career.