Before the Fireplace (No. 1)

autumn 1879 – winter 1880

Printmaking in Degas’s studio

Degas introduces Mary to etching: he owns a small printing press, and by day she works in his studio with his tools and press while in the evening she makes studies for the next day’s plate. It is when the two work most closely together, on a planned journal of prints.

1880

Degas withdraws from the prints journal

Degas abruptly withdraws from their planned prints journal and the project folds; Mary, who had worked hard on “In the Opera Box” in an edition of fifty impressions, is piqued. Her warm feelings for Degas last all her life, but she never again works with him so closely.

1880–1881

The Impressionist exhibitions of 1880 and 1881

Mary takes part in the next two Impressionist exhibitions and remains an active member of the circle until 1886. The only American officially associated with the group, she would go on to exhibit in half of its later shows.

1882

Death of her sister Lydia

Mary gives up painting to nurse her mother and her sister Lydia, who fell ill after the move to Paris in 1877. In 1882 Lydia dies, while her mother recovers.

1883

Adviser to the Havemeyer family

Mary’s friend Louisine Elder marries Harry Havemeyer, and with Mary as adviser the couple begin collecting the Impressionists on a grand scale. Much of their vast collection is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.