From Publishers Weekly
At the age of 21, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) disregarded the opposition of her wealthy Pennsylvania family and went to France to study painting, remaining there for most of her life. In this admirable biography, art historian Mathews ( Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints ) presents a compelling portrait of this contradictory woman. Cassatt joined the impressionists but always lived as a well-bred lady, never as a bohemian; gained fame with sensitive portraits of mothers and children yet never married or had children; and was frequently visited by family and friends from the U.S. who became caught up in her brilliant career in spite of her difficult and outspoken personality. Concentrating on Cassatt's devotion to her work and her often stormy personal relationships, including her friendships with the irascible painter Edgar Degas as well as with numerous wealthy Americans, some of whom she helped to acquire collections of impressionist art, Mathews treats Cassatt as a thoroughly professional painter, and shows how this single-minded and independent woman set her sights on high artistic goals and spent her life attaining them. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Although several monographs and many shorter works have been written about America's expatriate artist Mary Cassatt, this most recent effort by Nancy Mowll Mathews (art history, Williams Coll.) is an evenly written, well-documented, and sympathetic--but not patronizing--biography that should be acquired by most libraries. Though very few of the many illustrations will be new to Cassatt devotees, the final chapter--"The Historical Cassatt"--provides an insightful overview of the various popular and scholarly interpretations of Cassatt the feminist/individualist vs. Cassatt the genteel woman/artist. Recommended for public and academic libraries. (Index not seen.)-- P. Steven Thomas, Sangamon State Univ., Springfield, Ill.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Cassatt is known as the painter of mothers and children and as one of the few women Impressionists. Mathews, a renowned Cassatt expert, illuminates facets of the painter's life that have never before been articulated. An American who lived and worked in France for 60 years, Cassatt was a member of a wealthy Pennsylvania clan with a taste for European life and culture. By the time she was 15, Cassatt was fluent in several languages and possessed a keen and critical eye. Competitive, independent, and blessed with the sort of personal power that makes a person a "somebody," Cassatt chose to remain single and devote herself to her art. The key question, then, is why a single, childless woman would choose to make "maternity her signature theme." The answer becomes clear as Mathews traces the straight arrow of Cassatt's life, from her early struggles for recognition to her great joy at being welcomed into the breakaway Impressionist group by Edgar Degas, who became a close and encouraging friend. While Cassatt embraced a new, more natural, and spontaneous style of painting, her ethics never changed, especially her belief in the value of respectability. To remain respectable, a single woman living in Paris must have chaperones. Cassatt, therefore, surrounded herself with her parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews, and all became her favorite models. It is within this family context that Cassatt was inspired to express the tenderness and beauty of mothers and children, a radiant subject that she approached without a shred of sentimentality or regret. Indeed, her artistic objectivity and vision are exactly what make these velvety and luminous paintings such masterpieces. Donna Seaman


From Kirkus Reviews
Brilliant, lively life of long-lived American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), by the editor of her selected letters and author of a monograph on her (neither reviewed here). Mathews's historical considerations of Cassatt, showing how the painter has fared with art critics and feminist writers through the decades since her entries were first accepted by the Paris Salon in 1872, reveal just how surreal public and critical understanding of a painter can be, with Cassatt seen in the guises of a half-dozen different roles--from Victorian spinster to torch- bearing feminist--and each rippling image seen as the real woman. Trained in Pennsylvania and the Paris atelier of Charles Chaplin, Cassatt made an early decision never to accept a marriage proposal, preferring the life of the artist to that of the wife; nor, apparently, did she ever enter into a lesbian tie, though these were not uncommon among French painters. Cassatt was early recognized for her forceful opinions and the intense intellectual stimulation of her company. She led a romantic, nomadic life in France until turning professional and taking up her own studio in Paris. She welcomed the invitation by Degas to join the Impressionists and, though she met few of the outstanding members of that group, enjoyed matching wits with the fast tongues of those she did meet. Cassatt gave up her earlier melancholy, yearning, and contemplative subject matter for the modern psychological depth of Degas and Manet. With the waning of the Impressionists a decade later, she came into her prime and brought an abstract originality to her sensuous compositions of mothers and children. Her taste influenced many major American art collections, though cataracts deprived her of sight during her final years. Quiet but uplifting. (Illustrated throughout with 130 b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
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.

FROM OUR EDITORS

This well-designed biography of Mary Cassatt, American-born Impressionist painter, traces the development of the artist from her beginnings as a member of a wealthy and cultured Pennsylvania family to her inclusion in the Paris Salon and beyond. A new look at an extraordinary life.

ANNOTATION

135 illustrations, 50 in full color, 160 pages, 8-7/8 x 12"

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

At the age of 21, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) disregarded the opposition of her wealthy Pennsylvania family and went to France to study painting, remaining there for most of her life. In this admirable biography, art historian Mathews ( Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints ) presents a compelling portrait of this contradictory woman. Cassatt joined the Impressionists but always lived as a well-bred lady, never as a bohemian; gained fame with sensitive portraits of mothers and children yet never married or had children; and was frequently visited by family and friends from the U.S. who became caught up in her brilliant career in spite of her difficult and outspoken personality. Concentrating on Cassatt's devotion to her work and her often stormy personal relationships, including her friendships with the irascible painter Edgar Degas as well as with numerous wealthy Americans, some of whom she helped to acquire collections of impressionist art, Mathews treats Cassatt as a thoroughly professional painter, and shows how this single-minded and independent woman set her sights on high artistic goals and spent her life attaining them.

Library Journal

"As one of the country's greatest artists Mary Cassatt has entered the ranks of American heroes,'' Mathews concludes after 15 years' research. The shortness of the volume (and the plentitude of excellent black-and-white illustrations and color plates) tends to restrict this monograph to survey length. Yet the book includes a clear definition of the artist's personality, a revised chronology, and a balanced analysis of Cassatt's development, showing for example that she was a true Impressionist for only nine years. -- Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Art Dept., Goucher College, Maryland

Library Journal