A Kiss for Baby Ann (No. 3)

Plump, rosy cheeks.
A woman gently presses her lips to a golden-haired toddler she holds close.

A mother and child, full of tender love, embracing the viewer's heart with warmth.
Mary Cassatt is renowned as a painter who depicted such maternal and filial affection. Her paintings are often said to convey universal maternal love across all eras. However, this is not entirely true.

She herself remained unmarried throughout her life. She never held a child in her arms.
Furthermore, the models in this painting are not a real mother and child. They are merely a hired nanny and a child belonging to someone else.

A fabricated family. Why did she continue to paint mothers and children so persistently?

Born into a wealthy family in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1844, she lived in an era when it was expected for women to marry and become good wives and homemakers. However, she abandoned all of that. Defying strong family opposition, she chose the path of a professional artist.

She moved to Paris, where a solitary struggle began. In 1879, at the age of 35, Cassatt joined the Impressionists at Degas' invitation. While male painters freely depicted the outside world, she, as a woman, faced restrictions. Unable to even go to a café alone, she chose the private interior space as her subject.

Having forgone conventional happiness, she invited acquaintances' children and nannies to her studio. There, she created scenes with paint and pastels that she could never experience herself.

In 1897, at the age of 53, she embarked on a major challenge. She planned to return to her native America after approximately 25 years.
Her aim was to prove her overwhelming skill to her hometown, which had scoffed at the idea of a woman becoming a painter. This work was her greatest trump card for that homecoming exhibition.

She found the toddler 'Ann,' with hair like spun gold. Her translucent white skin and rosy cheeks were the ideal image favored by American collectors. To survive as a painter, she meticulously calculated public tastes and crafted a perfect image of a child on canvas.

She had renounced marriage and walked a solitary path outside societal norms. Precisely for this reason, she desired success as an independent artist more than anyone else. Later, this painting came into the possession of Elizabeth Stewart Hamilton. This was proof that her meticulous strategy had borne fruit.

Knowing this fact, let us look at the painting again. Beyond the gentle pastel hues, can we not perceive an indomitable spirit? This loving kiss is by no means a mere sentimental scene. It is the culmination, built with fierce determination, by a woman who sacrificed everything to continue holding her pastels.

The life she did not choose. What she preserved on canvas instead of a warm family. Perhaps it was a bond more certain than reality, one that would never be lost.