Mary cassatt

Art history has no more remarkable story to offer than the life and artistic achievement of Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). In an age dominated by the conventions and prejudices of Victorian society, the young Philadelphian from a conservative upper-middle-class background made her way to Europe and became the first and only American artist to be part of the French Impressionist revolution that was taking place in Paris. A staunch supporter of the Impressionist movement in the face of public derision, Cassatt showed her work in four of the historic Impressionist exhibitions. Devoted to the new realism and to portraying the life of her own day with candor and boldness, Cassatt was untypical in her preference for figure painting. Her dramatic theater scenes, psychologically telling studies of women, and fresh, original mother and child oils, pastels, drawings, and prints won increasing acclaim. This book is part of The Library of American Art published in association with the National Museum of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution. The author, Nancy Mowll Mathews (b. 1947), wrote and lectured extensively on Mary Cassatt. She was the Prendergast Curator (1988-2010) at the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Read less