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The Driftless Connecticut Series & Garnet Books
Forever Seeing New Beauties: The Forgotten Impressionist Mary Rogers Williams, 1857-1907
The story of New England's own Mary Cassatt
Revolutionary artist Mary Rogers Williams (1857--1907), a baker's daughter from Hartford, Connecticut, biked and hiked from the Arctic Circle to Naples, exhibited from Paris to Indianapolis, trained at the Art Students League, chafed against art world rules that favored men, wrote thousands of pages about her travels and work, taught at Smith College for nearly two decades, but sadly ended up almost totally obscure. The book reproduces her unpublished artworks that capture pensive gowned women, Norwegian slopes reflected in icy waters, saw-tooth rooflines on French chateaus, and incense hazes in Italian chapels, and it offers a vivid portrayal of an adventurer, defying her era's expectations.
Revolutionary artist Mary Rogers Williams (1857--1907), a baker's daughter from Hartford, Connecticut, biked and hiked from the Arctic Circle to Naples, exhibited from Paris to Indianapolis, trained at the Art Students League, chafed against art world rules that favored men, wrote thousands of pages about her travels and work, taught at Smith College for nearly two decades, but sadly ended up almost totally obscure. The book reproduces her unpublished artworks that capture pensive gowned women, Norwegian slopes reflected in icy waters, saw-tooth rooflines on French chateaus, and incense hazes in Italian chapels, and it offers a vivid portrayal of an adventurer, defying her era's expectations.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published November 5, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 6, 2021
Eve Kahn is a lively writer and a thorough researcher. I was fascinated by the story of Mary Rogers Williams. So happy to add another missing woman painter to the North American visual landscape.
July 18, 2025
This biographical book about Mary Rogers Williams, a Connecticut artist identified as an American Impressionist painter benefits from extensive letter writing by Mary Williams and family and friends who preserved her art and memory. While I appreciated the amount of research the book must have taken, I found the name-dropping detail tedious and repetition unnecessary. I liked that the book included the art being referenced so I could see it while Ms. Kahn described the subject and Mary Williams thoughts about each piece.
The best part of the book was Mary Williams writing where her wit and wry humor came through. While an admirer of Impressionist art, I did not care for her landscapes which were what gave her the title of Forgotten Impressionist. I did enjoy her sketches and portraits and learning about the lifestyle of an independent woman in the Gilded Age who left her provincial New England for extensive trips abroad..
The best part of the book was Mary Williams writing where her wit and wry humor came through. While an admirer of Impressionist art, I did not care for her landscapes which were what gave her the title of Forgotten Impressionist. I did enjoy her sketches and portraits and learning about the lifestyle of an independent woman in the Gilded Age who left her provincial New England for extensive trips abroad..
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews