Preview of American Painter in Paris: A Life of Mary Cassatt Summary:

The United States has produced very few renowned woman artists, but Mary Cassatt ranks among America's most important painters. American Painter in Paris: A Life of Mary Cassatt deals primarily with Cassatt as a person: her ambitions, her emotions, and, of course, her art. Wilson limits herself to describing the works of Cassatt and others in a general, rather than technical, way. For instance, she writes of Edgar Degas, "the artist apparently thought it more important to have his models look real rather than pretty," and of a Claude Monet painting, "it shone with disturbing brilliance." Such generality makes the biography readily accessible to readers with a strong interest in art but little technical knowledge. Unfortunately, only one of the paintings is reproduced in color.

Mary Cassatt's life as a member of an affluent eastern family in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century adds an element of...