Mary Morton — Cassatt Reconsidered - with Dorothy Kosinski
Mary G. Morton presents *Cassatt Reconsidered*, her sweeping reassessment of Mary Cassatt’s artistic career and enduring reputation. The discussion examines how Cassatt challenged conventional ideas about femininity, childhood, and maternity while developing a fiercely independent, modern body of work within the Impressionist movement. Morton also considers how the Parisian art establishment and later art historians reduced Cassatt’s legacy to sentimental paintings of mothers and children, obscuring the ambition and radicalism of her art.
Morton will discuss the book with Dorothy Kosinski, director emerita of The Phillips Collection. The program accompanies a richly illustrated volume containing more than 100 images and offering a fuller account of Cassatt’s intimate, distinctive portrayals of modern women.
When: Sunday, November 8, 2026, at 3:00pm
Venue: Politics and Prose Bookstore, Conn Ave
Participants: Mary G. Morton, curator and head of the French paintings department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in conversation with Dorothy Kosinski, director emerita of The Phillips Collection
About Mary G. Morton: Morton is coauthor of *Paris 1874* (2024). In 2018, the French government named her a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
About Dorothy Kosinski: Kosinski led The Phillips Collection from 2008 to 2023 and previously held positions at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Douglas Cooper Collection in Basel, Switzerland. She served on the National Council on the Humanities by appointment of President Barack Obama, has received the Order of the Italian Star and France’s Ordre des Arts et Lettres, and was a Getty Museum Scholar in Residence in 2024.
Tickets: Free admission
Seating: First come, first served
Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. The bookstore will try to accommodate requests made up to the event time.
Related book: *Cassatt Reconsidered* by Mary G. Morton, with a foreword by Lauren Elkin, is a hardcover edition with more than 100 images. It is available for preorder for $35.00 and is scheduled for publication on November 24, 2026.