Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives

by Debra N. Mancoff

A selection of the nineteenth-century painter's works reflects the solitary, social, public, and intimate worlds inhabited by the women she knew

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Anne McKinney]

I will treasure this book as a gift from my daughter. Even though Mary Cassatt chose the life of a single woman, she was able to capture, in her paintings, the intimate bond between a mother and child.

[Anna]

~3.25

[Andrea]

I first became interested in Mary Cassatt after reading The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris and learning about her, specifically her time in/around Paris. This book was a nice supplement. I learned more about her as an artist and an individual and got to see many of her paintings.

The material was a little repetitive as the book is broken into topics, and the captions especially were redundant with the rest of the text which was kind of annoying. I also wished that there were more images to reference when certain paintings were mentioned. The formatting (including incorrect page numbers in the Table of Contents) left a little to be desired.

However, Cassatt's paintings really capture something tender and genuine and I will probably page through this book again just to look at them once more before returning this book to the library. This would make a good introduction to the artist and her style/influences. It's easy to read and full of her beautiful work.

[Nicole]

Excellent overview of Mary Cassatt's life and work. The themes of solitude, social life, public life, and motherhood highlight the historical significance of Cassatt's prints, painting, and pastels. The captions for each piece were also very helpful. Only wish I had more time to study he rest of the text!

[TheMcafeeKids]

(parent note) - great introduction to our visual artists unit. Found some excellent colouring pages and paired them with copies of Mary's originals. Enjoyed her depictions of the lives of women. A good intro to impressionism

[Barb Bailey]

One of my favorite American Artists. She mostly draws and paints women and children.