This is the Mask: A Book Blog

Thank you NetGalley and Getty Publications for the ARC of Mary G. Morton’s “Cassatt Reconsidered.”

I have always admired Mary Cassatt’s work; I find it beautiful and moving, and I feel that her portraits have a kind of mystery to them. I always wonder what her subjects were thinking as she painted them. Her painting “Mother and Child on a Green Background” is a particular favorite; the baby looks much like my daughter did at that age, all plump rosy cheeks and blonde curls. And I have always loved the faraway look of the young “Mandoline Player.”

I did not know that Cassatt did not feel the “Impressionist” title quite described her work. She called herself a Realist, and indeed most her work lacks that not-quite defined aura that the work of the Impressionists has. Cassatt has long been called “a painter of mothers and children,” somewhat derisively. I think it would be more accurate to call Mary Cassatt a painter of life moments, a precious pause from the busyness of living, captured forever for generations to reflect on.

“Cassatt Reconsidered” by Mary G. Morton will be published November 24, 2026.