Introduces the life and work of Mary Cassatt, discussing her early years, life in the United States and Paris, and development as an artist.

Urban realism, snow-covered streets of New York, boxing matches, children on the banks of a river, the painters of the Ash Can School preferred realistic images. Their paintings are a true hymn to noise and sensations. This unconventional movement enabled the birth of a true national artistic identity which broke free from the establishment. The Ash Can School resolutely promoted the affirmation of the modernist current of American art. Edward Hopper,...

"In [this book, the author] illustrates his creative process and and [sic] tells the story of how he learned to tackle the obstacles and fears artists face."--Back cover.

"A groundbreaking biography of Sam Francis, one of the celebrated artists of the twentieth century, and the American painter who brought the vocabulary of abstract expressionism to Paris. Drawing on exclusive interviews and private correspondence, Gabrielle Selz traces the complex life of this magnetic, globe-trotting artist who first learned to paint as a former air-corps pilot encased in a full-body cast for three years. Selz writes an intimate...

George Inness (1825-94), long considered one of America's greatest landscape painters, has yet to receive his full due from scholars and critics. A complicated artist and thinker, Inness painted stunningly beautiful, evocative views of the American countryside. Less interested in representing the details of a particular place than in rendering the "subjective mystery of nature," Inness believed that capturing the spirit or essence of a natural scene...