This may not be the hardest topic to come up with stories for, but there’s a twist—not just one, but two prominent American artists, both distantly related to each other... and to me.
Sometime after I turned 11 or 12, people started asking, “Are you related to the artist?”meaning Mary Cassatt. For a long time, I just shrugged and said, “I guess.” These questions came even more often after I moved to the Philadelphia Main Line (IYKYK), home to at least two Cassatt mansions. I started to suspect that, since “Cassatt” was derived from “Cossart,” there must be a close family connection.
I checked genealogy books at a historical library outside Philladelphia and saw her lineage traced back a few generations, but still no direct link. She did seem to be from the wealthier side of the family.
It wasn’t until I discovered the Ancestral File records at a local Family History Center, and dug into some books at the Library of Congress, that I finally traced the connection. Mary Stevenson Cassatt, the famous artist, and her brother Alexander Johnston Cassatt, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, are my third cousins, three times removed. (This was also when I learned what “third cousin” and “times removed” actually meant.) Mary’s third cousin was David Cassatt, their shared great-grandfather being Francis Cossart, the Revolutionary War patriot.
Interestingly, Mary never married, but people, especially women and children, were central subjects in her art. There’s a certain humanity that shines through her Impressionistic style (at least to my untrained eye), and it’s no surprise her works attract crowds at the museums I’ve visited. And yes, sometimes I wish I wore a name tag, baseball-player style, reading: Yes, I’m related to Mary Cassatt.
But wait—there’s more!
My immigrant ancestor, Jacques Cossart, was a Huguenot who cast his lot with the Dutch and arrived in New Amsterdam in 1665. One quirky legacy of his line is the seemingly endless variation in the spelling of “Cossart”—likely due to English speakers wrestling with French pronunciation. On my side, descended from Jacques’s son David, the name evolved from Cossart to Cossairt to Cassatt. From another son, Anthony, came the variation “Cozad.”
Which brings us to another American artist: Robert Henri (pronounced Hen-rye), born Robert Henry Cozad in Cincinnati, Ohio. After a family scandal (involving a shooting), the Cozads fled west to Denver, and all dropped their last names. He later settled in Philadelphia and became a key figure in the “American Realism” movement, more famously known as the “Ashcan School.” His students included Edward Hopper and George Bellows, who painted gritty, unvarnished city life. Like muckraking journalists and novelists such as Theodore Dreiser and Stephen Crane, these artists showed a rawer side of booming urban America.
Did I inherit any artistic talent? Hard to say. My sister Mary Ann earned a BFA and painted beautifully, but I’ve mostly worked in temporary media: Magic Slate, beach sand, chalkboard, Etch-A-Sketch, and MagnaDoodle. I can sing a little and once played clarinet and saxophone but not very well. My kids, however, have some serious musical chops, though I credit their mother’s side for that.
p.s. After I took some of the family to the National Gallery of Art, did I post my granddaughter with attitude like the little girl in the armchair? You bet I did.
Photos:
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Snow in New York by Robert Henri, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Hi, I always read the posts that Amy recommends. Yours was especially interesting to me. My home town is Cozad, Nebraska. I wondered if you knew that they have a Robert Henri Galley there. It is part of the 100th Meridian Museum. Both have just been refurbished and the Gallery has been moved into a new building. I have not been back to visit yet. I hope you get to visit it sometime. They do have a webpage and a Facebook page if you are interested. Thank you so much for your post to 52 Weeks.
ReplyDeleteDiana Rowley Ware
Thank you, Diana! I would love to see more of Robert's work, although it is a hike. It's interesting to see how many connections there are throughout history and around the country.
DeleteHi. I also like to read the posts that Amy recommends. Imagine my surprise when I see mention of the Cozad name. I live very near Cozaddale in the Cincinnati Ohio area and have read of the family's sudden leaving and name change in local history. I certainly would not have thought of Cozad as a name variation of the names you've listed. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIris Wilson
Thank you! I guess the family must have been prominent (or notorious) wherever they lived.
DeleteI have always wanted to think of myself as the type of person who likes to study artists and hang out at galleries, even though I'm definitely not this person. But learning about it from the genealogy angle, this was very cool history.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I’ve read a lot of articles books and even taught classes at my church about religious art, but still feel self conscious pointing out things I notice in paintings when I visit a museum. I always imagine that I’m in a room full of art history majors, rolling their eyes at my shallow understanding.
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