- Mary Cassatt, Woman Reading (Femme lissant)
A book I enjoyed reading recently is Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman. It is a fictional story about Mary Cassatt from the perspective of her older sister Lydia, who suffered from chronic kidney disease. I have always been a fan of Mary Cassatt, but haven’t read much about her personally. Reading this book makes me want to read a full-fledged biography of her.
It has five chapters, each focusing on a particular painting featuring Lydia as the model. As Lydia sits, the two sisters have conversations that reveal bits and pieces of their lives. Her daydreams also reveal background info on their family life in Europe as well as America. This book explores what it’s like to have an artist in the family, which is an eye opening subject for me. Another theme is living with chronic illness. Lydia struggles with the idea that she will die soon and her sister’s portraits of her will be her only legacy.
Even though it is fictional and covers only a brief few years of Mary Cassatt’s career, it is obvious from the author’s attention to detail that a lot of research went into this book. It thought it especially interesting to read how the author imagines what others may have thought of Mary’s relationship with Edgar Degas (although I wish his character were more developed). I also loved how subtle details in the paintings are woven into the story.
If you are interested in art history, but want to read something a little less dense and scholarly, I would definitely recommend this book. It is a concise and easy to read story, which is a big plus for me because I do most of my reading before bed.
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