Timea Andrea Lelik sets the stage for a new way to see the works of Mary Cassatt. We learn her approach to her subjects, women and children. While we know them well, MC finds new unexpected angles, mirrored postures that make us see the subject, and the world in which the subject is viewed. Cassatt paints a portrait with the face mirrored by a tea cup. She shows women reading newspapers. The women, these children are not on display....many times they are alone. We learn of Cassatt's friendships with male artists that allowed her to explore different exhibition opportunities and eventually different ways to make art - pastels, screen prints: each new media approached with confidence.
The lecture points to a time when circumstances may not have been what they appeared to be. How better to understand this than through the eyes of a superb woman artist.