Elsie Foster Cassatt

Elizabeth "Elsie" Foster Cassatt Stewart (August 14, 1875 – May 31, 1931) was an American sportswoman and socialite.

Elsie Foster Cassatt
A young white woman in a tailored suit and necktie, sitting at a small table next to a wire-haired dog.
Elsie Foster Cassatt, from a 1901 publication.
Born
Elizabeth Foster Cassatt

(1875-08-14)August 14, 1875
Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMay 31, 1931(1931-05-31) (aged 55)
New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)golfer, socialite
Known forsubject and owner of portraits by her aunt, Mary Cassatt

Early life
A painting of a child in a blue chair, looking to the side, with pale skin and reddish hair.
"Elsie in a Blue Chair" (1883), by Mary Cassatt; the subject was the painter's niece, Elsie Foster Cassatt.

Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Alexander Cassatt and Lois Buchanan Cassatt. Her father was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Her older brother was soldier and horse breeder Edward B. Cassatt. Her mother's uncle was United States president James Buchanan. Her father's sister was the painter Mary Cassatt. As a child, Elsie visited her aunt in France, and was the subject of some of Mary Cassatt's portraits, including "Katherine Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren", "Elsie in a Blue Chair" and "Elsie Cassatt Holding a Big Dog".[1]

Career

Cassatt was described as "a young woman whose every curve speaks of her athletic training and fine physical condition... a modern Diana: she rides, swims, shoots, and plays tennis."[2] She was also known as a cricketer and a serious golfer before she married.[3] She played in the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1899[4][5] and in 1901,[6] and was considered one of the top American women golfers of her day.[7][8] She was a member of the Merion Cricket Club, with her sister Katherine, in 1900.[9]

She loaned some of Mary Cassatt's paintings to a major exhibit held at the Pennsylvania Museum in 1927, curated by Louisine Havemeyer.[10]

Personal life

Elsie Cassatt married stockbroker W. Plunket Stewart in 1902,[11][12] and divorced him in 1930; he soon remarried.[13] Her husband was a noted breeder of hunting dogs.[14][15] Their daughters were Katherine, Doris, and Elsie; their only son, Alexander, died in 1912. She died in New York in 1931, aged 55 years.[3] Her gravesite is in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Her daughter Katherine Kelso Stewart married Eric Vicomte de Spoelberch, a Belgian pilot and athlete, in 1932.[16] The Elsie Cassatt Stewart Memorial Children's Fund was established at the Jefferson Medical College Hospital and Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Cassatt was a character in the television film Mary Cassatt: An American Impressionist (1999), portrayed by Canadian actress Emma Taylor-Isherwood.[17][18]

References
  1. Mathews, Nancy Mowll (1998). Mary Cassatt: a Life. Yale University Press. pp. 155–156, 167–168. ISBN 9780300164886.
  2. "Saunterings". Town Topics. 30: 9. October 19, 1893.
  3. "Mrs. Elsie Cassatt Stewart". The News Journal. June 2, 1931. p. 19. Retrieved July 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Constitution, By-laws and Rules. US Golf Association. 1894. p. 21.
  5. Sutphen, Van Tassel (November 3, 1899). "The American Women's Championship". Golf Illustrated. Vol. 2. p. 108.
  6. "Ready for Women's Golf". The New York Times. October 6, 1901. p. 15 – via ProQuest.
  7. Patten, William (1901). The book of sport. J. F. Taylor. pp. 38. Cassatt.
  8. "News of the Golf World". The New York Times. June 19, 1899. p. 3 – via ProQuest.
  9. Outing; Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction. W. B. Holland. 1900.
  10. Havemeyer, Louisine W. (1927). "The Cassatt Exhibition". Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum. 22 (113): 373–377. ISSN 0891-3609. JSTOR 3794354.
  11. "Engagements and Marriages Announced". Boston Home Journal. 57: 8. July 20, 1901.
  12. "Wedding of a Day". The New York Times. January 23, 1902. p. 9 – via ProQuest.
  13. "Elsie Cassatt Stewart". The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 1, 1931. p. 24. Retrieved July 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. Osborn, Prue Draper. "History". Cheshire Hunt Conservancy. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  15. Black, Rick (February 18, 1993). "Aristocratic Fox Hunt Survives in East, Spreads to West". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  16. "Katherine Stewart is Wed to Viscomte". The New York Times. April 29, 1932. p. 14 – via ProQuest.
  17. "Mary Cassatt: An American Impressionist". IMDb. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  18. James, Caryn (May 11, 1999). "History Gets Helping Hands, Small Ones". The New York Times. p. E1 – via ProQuest.
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