Contains color reproductions and descriptions of seventy-two paintings by American impressionist artist Mary Cassat.

Mary Cassatt was a headstrong, determined girl. She wanted to be an artist in 1860, a time when proper girls certainly weren't artists. It wasn't polite. But Mary herself wasn't polite. She pursued art with a passion, moving to Paris to study, painting what she saw. Her work was rejected by the Salon judges time and time again. One day, the great painter Edgar Degas invited her to join him and his group of independent artists, those who flouted the rules and painted as they pleased-the Impressionists. Mary was on her way. "I began to live," said Mary. Today, her paintings hang in museums around the world and she is recognized as one of the most celebrated female artists of all time.

This groundbreaking study, the definitive introduction to the work of artist Mary Cassatt, places her work in the wider context of nineteenth-century feminism and art theory and is now updated with color illustrations. This groundbreaking study redefines the status of the beloved American artist Mary Cassatt, placing her work in the wider context of nineteenth- century feminism and art theory. Mary Cassatt looks at the artist’s work in light of her time as an advocate for women’s intellectual life and political emancipation. Esteemed by her contemporaries for her commitment to what she and her radical colleagues in Paris termed “the new art”—now called impressionism—Cassatt brought her discerning gaze and compositional inventiveness to the study of the subtle, often psychological, social interactions of women in public and private spaces. Focusing on key moments of engagement and change over the artist’s long career, art historian Griselda Pollock discusses Cassatt’s artistic training across Europe, her profound study of the Old Masters, and places fresh emphasis on the artist’s interest in Manet and other contemporary French and Spanish painters as well as her influence on American collections of French modernism. Now revised with a new preface, updates to the bibliography, and color illustrations throughout, this book offers a reevaluation of the work of this important artist as seen through the frames of class, gender, space, and difference.

One of the few women Impressionists, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) had a life of paradoxes: American born, she lived and worked in France; a classically trained artist, she preferred the company of radicals; never married, she painted exquisite and beloved portraits of mothers and children. This book provides new insight into the personal life and artistic endeavors of this extraordinary woman. "Brilliant, lively life of long lived American Impressionist."--Kirkus Reviews "Rich in historical and archeological detail, thoroughgoing in its resurrection of the contexts and conditions of Cassatt's life as an artist."--Carol Armstrong, New York Times Book Review "Mathews informatively and entertainingly documents Cassatt's tumultuous relations with various members of both the American and Parisian avant-garde. . . . An impressive biography."--Siri Huntoon, New York Newsday "A superb piece of scholarship."--Ruth Johnstone Wales, Christian Science Monitor "In this admirable biography, art historian Mathews . . . presents a compelling portrait of this contradictory woman."--Publishers Weekly "Authoritative, unsentimental, clear as a bell, this is a model of the new biography by and about talented women."--Kennedy Fraser "This will probably be the definitive biography for our generation."--John Wilmerding, Princeton University

A study of many facets of the artist's work redefines her status in the Parisian avant-garde and in American art, and places her work in the context of nineteenth-century feminism and art theory

During her lifetime, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) achieved great fame in both France and America. But while she is still highly regarded in the United States, she is now somewhat overlooked in France, where she lived and worked for more than sixty years and where she became the only American artists to exhibit with the Impressionists in Paris. The exhibition 'Mary Cassatt: An American Impressionist in Paris', held in the Musée Jacquemart-André, is the first retrospective dedicated to the painter in France since her death. The exhibition will bring together around fifty major works on loan from museums and institutions ... Oils, pastels, and prints retrace Cassett's entire career, explore the modernity of her approach, and show how she became one of the leading figures of the avant-garde movement of her day. This catalogue, which complements the exhibition, presents the various facets of an artist who had a complex career: a classically trained painter who became an Impressionist, the brilliant creator of the 'Modern Madonna', and a tireless experimenter, Cassatt was also an ardent supporter of women's suffrage. This catalogue aims to restore Cassatt to her rightful place in the history of modern art.