Through her artwork and her extensive encouragement of other collectors, artist Mary Cassatt was a primary conduit for the introduction of impressionism to America. Cassatt worked hard to develop her craft, expanding her work to incorporate pastels, engraving, and printmaking. Like the paintings of the French impressionists who were her friends and influences, Cassatt's work attempted to show ordinary scenes from contemporary life: short brush strokes, primary colors, odd angles, and reflected rather than artificial light were combined to convey a less formal, more real version of the painted scene. Cassatt's focus was distinctive, her emphasis on women in domestic settings, especially with their children. Her later work shows a strong influence from Japanese prints. Her portraits share a similar intimacy, the figures set against little background detail; Cassatt used techniques similar to photography, homing in on her subjects to observe the specifics of their relationships. She treated...