Exhibition alert: A review in the Guardian of Mary Cassatt at Work, a new retrospective now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, sent me to the museum's holdings of her work, where I found The Banjo Player shown here. Cassatt was as innovative as her male contemporaries, and it's good to see her career presented in depth. For those of us who can't get to Philadelphia this summer or to San Francisco in the fall for the exhibition, there's always the catalogue. Nothing beats seeing actual works for their colors texture, brushstrokes, and so forth; but the leisure to read about works and methods has its own rewards, not only for viewers, but also for writers of historical fiction.
Loading…}