Mary Cassatt: Painter of Modern Women

World of Art

by Mary Cassatt

This groundbreaking new study redefines Mary Cassatt's status in the Parisian avant-garde and in American art, placing her work in the wider context of nineteenth-century feminism and art theory. Admired by Degas--who invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1877--Cassatt brought a New Women's perspective to the theater, drawing room, garden, and studio. Griselda Pollock emphasizes Cassatt's study of Old Masters and interest in Manet's work, and stresses her great influence on the creation of American collections of French modernism. She argues that Cassatt's experimentation with etching and pastels from the late 1880s enabled her to represent women and children without sentiment, but with a deepening awareness of a complex psychological charge. Professor of Social and Critical Histories of Art at the University of Leeds, Griselda Pollock's many books include Old Mistresses: Women, Art, and Ideology (with Roszika Parker).

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Womens, Biography, Art History, Academic

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1980

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessibly written, but definitely a serious academic book rather than eye candy for art lovers.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the end of the nineteenth century, Mary Cassatt, dared to defy expectations and became a painter, instead of a housewife and mother. In the 1980s, Griselda Pollock wrote Mary Cassatt, a look at the female impressionist painter that re-evaluated her body of work.

While it doesn't seem so radical now, Pollock was one of the first to suggest Mary Cassatt as a serious, hard-working, talented artist, rather than the number girl Impressionist (certainly the first to write a book about it). Cassatt's catalogue of works include many depictions of children, mothers, and woman, which often left her to be labeled as a sentimental painter. However, Pollock argues that she produces more real images of mothers and children than her male counterparts, that her sex allowed her access to women and children, and that her modeling and anatomy (particularly of children) are unrivaled in her Impressionist counterparts. I also liked Pollock's arguments that Cassatt's depiction of women and of girls provide a commentary on social expectations for women, and her depictions of women in solitary pursuits (especially academic ones) demonstrate deeper insight into the lives of women than those depicted by her male counterparts.

[Chris Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on painter Mary Cassatt. It is intelligently organized and written in such a way to give an understanding into her life, relationships, and work. The book opens with a commissioned mural late in Cassatt's career and then goes back in time to being a semi-chronological thematic approach. A good easy-to-follow flow is maintained throughout. I recommend it.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to an interesting woman. Beautiful reproductions of Cassatt's paintings; I have to say, I'm not sure I really came away with a sense of the method/development of her art, or what art was well or poorly received. I certainly learned about her personal history, and that was fairly worthwhile in of itself.

[Antonia Godoy Arias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me demoré siglos en leerlo, pero fue mi culpa, no del libro. Creo que es un acercamiento bastante accesible e interesante (desde la academia) a la obra de cassatt, la verdad es que nunca he leído un trabajo de griselda pollock que no me haya gustado o que no haya cumplido mis expectativas. Disfruté poder conectar obras que me conmueven mucho con la historia de cassatt y su representación tan reveladora de la domesticidad.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early work by my old History of Art lecturer from Leeds University, found in a charity store here in Chicago. Love that random connection of past/present. Wonderfully sharp feisty essay and many nice color plates.

[literarymilken]

Feeling ready to blab about her

[Manuel Posada · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in preparation for a Mary Cassatt exhibition at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. It struck a great balance between biography and art history, with some psychoanalysis that comes from the author’s other research interests. I think the danger of these books is that, for the amateur reader myself, they become a textbook for an imaginary exam. I go to the exhibit and then stare at paintings trying to recall what the book said so I can fit some aleatory painting into the author’s argument. Even worse, I may go to the exhibit with someone and try to recall fun facts about the subject so I can repeat them. Multiple times walking around the galleries I would head different people explain how the kids they pose with were the children of Cassatt’s friends… and how the women in the images were often the house employees… and how Mary Cassatt never had children of her own… As an audience, we become more concerned with this intellectual exercise than with the emotional potential of the images.
The first time I saw a work by Mary Cassatt I was marveled by the simplicity of her compositions, often just a mother holding a child in front of a flat impressionist background. The richness comes from the way they hold each other, how the mother looks at the child, and the costumes the models have been dressed in. I guess I wanted to “understand” Mary Cassatt because I love her paintings and prints but in the future, I need to rethink the way I read these books so I can use them to deepen the ideas of what speaks to me, rather than just adopting the facts and analysis that an author found important.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Cassatt radically reconceptualized three spaces: the spaces of femininity (the social locus and activity that is being painted); the space in painting (the repression of deep space in favor of shallow space, producing the effect of immediate proximity to her sitters); and the space from which the painting was being made' (Pollock: 155)

This book is about Mary Cassatt's artistic life. Unlike any other monograph, this one doesn't follow her work chronologically, which is a nice twist. The book is a celebration of Mary Cassatt and it shows her contributions to the history of art, in terms of technique and subject matter; her influence on Monet and Picasso; or her role in introducing French art to the United States.

Despite being a book on Mary Cassatt, the book also refers to works by other female artists, which is nice. The book argues that Cassatt introduced the spaces, mentalities and fantasies of women of modernity. And it offers a psychological (and not naturalist) reading of the images of mother and children that Cassatt painted so frequently. But I missed a reference to those theories that claim that such images were frequent as a way to increase birth rate in France.

Anyone interested in nineteenth-century art or Impressionism must read this book, as male artists are not being as privileged as they tend to be. Of all the books in the series of World of Art read so far ("Gauguin" and "Art and Myth in Ancient Greek Art"), this is the first one I enjoyed very much.

[Lucie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griselda you never disappoint me I love you

[Rl Jrg · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a genius art historian, who happens to be a woman writing about solid feminism, takes up the subject of a genius artist, who happens to be a woman painting feminism, you get this hard to put down, gripping, scholarly work.