---
title: "Mary Cassatt — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "Mary Cassatt was an American Impressionist whose print The Coiffure borrowed Japanese woodblock techniques, a go-to example of cross-cultural influence in Unit 4."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-art-history/key-terms/mary-cassatt"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP Art History"
unit: "Unit 4"
---

# Mary Cassatt — AP Art History Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

Mary Cassatt was an American Impressionist working in Paris who absorbed Japanese woodblock print conventions (flattened space, bold outlines, elevated viewpoints) into intimate scenes of women's daily lives, most famously in The Coiffure, a required work in AP Art History's Unit 4.

## What It Is

Mary Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker who built her career in Paris as part of the Impressionist circle, one of the few women admitted to that [avant-garde](/ap-art-history/key-terms/avant-garde "fv-autolink") group. Her signature subject was women in private, domestic moments, things like bathing, dressing hair, or caring for children, painted from the inside rather than as objects on display.

For [AP Art History](/ap-art-history "fv-autolink"), Cassatt matters because of *The Coiffure*, her drypoint and aquatint print of a woman arranging her hair. After seeing a major exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints in Paris, Cassatt deliberately adopted their visual language. You can see it in the flattened space, the strong contour lines, the asymmetrical composition, and the slightly elevated viewpoint. This makes her a textbook case of what the CED calls interactions across cultures ([Topic 4.1](/ap-art-history/unit-4/cultural-interactions-later-european-american-art/study-guide/vEcHWhEN09tXkjUbjKFq "fv-autolink")). European artists in the late 1800s were encountering non-European art through expanding global trade and colonialism, and that exposure visibly reshaped their style.

## Why It Matters

[Cassatt](/ap-art-history/key-terms/cassatt "fv-autolink") lives in **[Unit 4](/ap-art-history/unit-4 "fv-autolink"): Later Europe and Americas, 1750-1980 CE**, specifically **Topic 4.1**. She supports both learning objectives there. For **AP Art History 4.1.B** (how interactions with other cultures affect art making), *The Coiffure* is one of the clearest examples on the entire 250-work list. The Japanese influence isn't subtle or debatable; it's right there in the composition. For **AP Art History 4.1.A** (how cultural practices and belief systems affect art), Cassatt's focus on women's private lives connects to the era's shifting social roles for women. She painted the world she actually had access to as a 19th-century woman, and turned that constraint into her subject matter. When an exam question asks you to explain why late 19th-century European art suddenly looks flatter, bolder, and more asymmetrical, Cassatt is your evidence.

## Connections

### Colonialism and global exchange (Unit 4)

The CED says artists were affected by diverse cultures largely because of [colonialism](/ap-art-history/key-terms/colonialism "fv-autolink") and expanding trade. Japan's forced opening to Western trade in the mid-1800s flooded Paris with woodblock prints, and that's the pipeline that put Japanese art in front of Cassatt's eyes.

### [Avant-garde (Unit 4)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/avant-garde)

Cassatt exhibited with the Impressionists, who rejected the official [Salon](/ap-art-history/key-terms/salon "fv-autolink") system. Borrowing from Japanese prints was itself an avant-garde move, a way of breaking from European academic perspective rules that had ruled painting since the Renaissance.

### [Cubism (Unit 4)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/cubism)

Cassatt's [Japonisme](/ap-art-history/key-terms/japonisme "fv-autolink") and Picasso's borrowing from African masks are the same story two decades apart. European artists looked outside Europe for new visual ideas, then used them to break academic conventions. The 2021 LEQ on cross-cultural influence could be answered with either.

### [Abstraction (Unit 4)](/ap-art-history/key-terms/abstraction)

Flattening space and emphasizing outline over modeling, which Cassatt learned from Japanese prints, is an early step on the road toward abstraction. The move away from illusionistic depth starts here, long before fully abstract art arrives.

## On the AP Exam

Multiple-choice questions on Cassatt almost always center on *The Coiffure* and follow one pattern. They show or describe the print, point to its flattened space, bold outlines, asymmetry, or elevated viewpoint, and ask you to explain where those features came from (Japanese woodblock prints) and what broader pattern they represent (cross-cultural exchange reshaping late 19th-century European art). The 2021 LEQ asked test-takers to identify a 19th- or 20th-century European or American painting, drawing, or print influenced by another culture and analyze that influence. *The Coiffure* is a near-perfect answer for that prompt because the influence is specific and visible. To use Cassatt well, you need to do three things. Name the source culture (Japan, specifically ukiyo-e woodblock prints). Point to concrete visual evidence in the work itself. Connect it to the bigger historical context of trade and colonial contact bringing non-European art into Paris.

## Mary Cassatt vs Berthe Morisot

Both were women in the Impressionist circle who painted domestic scenes, so they blur together fast. The exam-relevant difference is that Cassatt was American, and her required work, The Coiffure, is a print built on Japanese compositional principles. Morisot was French, worked mainly in loose painterly oils, and is not on the AP required works list. If the question involves Japonisme or printmaking, it's Cassatt.

## Key Takeaways

- Mary Cassatt was an American Impressionist who worked in Paris and is on the AP exam through her print The Coiffure in Unit 4, Topic 4.1.
- The Coiffure borrows directly from Japanese woodblock prints, showing flattened space, bold outlines, asymmetrical composition, and an elevated viewpoint.
- Cassatt is prime evidence for learning objective 4.1.B, which asks you to explain how interactions with other cultures affected European and American art making.
- Japanese prints reached Cassatt because expanding global trade and colonial contact brought non-European art into late 19th-century Paris.
- Her focus on women in private domestic moments reflects both her access as a woman artist and the era's changing ideas about women's social roles.
- On an LEQ about cross-cultural influence, The Coiffure works because the borrowed elements are specific, visible, and easy to tie to historical context.

## FAQs

### Who was Mary Cassatt in AP Art History?

Mary Cassatt was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker working in Paris in the late 1800s. Her drypoint and aquatint print The Coiffure is on the AP required works list in Unit 4 as a key example of Japanese influence on Western art.

### Why did Japanese prints influence Mary Cassatt?

After Japan opened to Western trade in the mid-1800s, ukiyo-e woodblock prints flooded into Paris, and Cassatt saw a major exhibition of them. She adopted their flattened space, strong outlines, and asymmetrical compositions because they offered a fresh alternative to European academic perspective.

### Is Mary Cassatt the same as Berthe Morisot?

No. Both were women Impressionists, but Cassatt was American and her required AP work is a Japanese-influenced print, The Coiffure. Morisot was French, painted in loose oils, and is not on the AP required works list.

### Was Mary Cassatt actually French?

No, she was American, born in Pennsylvania. She moved to Paris to pursue her career and exhibited with the French Impressionists, which is why she's often mistaken for a French artist.

### What should I say about The Coiffure on an FRQ?

Identify it fully (Mary Cassatt, The Coiffure, drypoint and aquatint print, c. 1890-1891), then point to specific Japanese-derived features like flattened space, bold contour lines, and the elevated viewpoint. Connect those features to global trade bringing Japanese prints to Paris, which nails the cross-cultural influence prompts like the 2021 LEQ.

## Related Study Guides

- [4.1 Interactions Within and Across Cultures in Later European and American Art](/ap-art-history/unit-4/cultural-interactions-later-european-american-art/study-guide/vEcHWhEN09tXkjUbjKFq)

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