American-born painter Mary Cassatt grew up in Pennsylvania but spent the better part of her life and career in France, yet that did not prevent her from gaining a preeminent position among artists in the United States. At the height of her career, she focused almost exclusively on depictions of mothers and children, a subject that became her signature theme. By the outbreak of World War I, Cassatt had to give up painting entirely due to failing eyesight,...

The young Mary Cassatt never thought moving to Paris after the Civil War to be an artist was going to be easy. But when, after a decade of work, her submission to the Paris Salon is rejected, Mary's determination wavers. Her father begs her to return to Philadelphia to find a husband before it's too late. Her sister is falling mysteriously ill. Worse, Mary is beginning to doubt herself. Then one evening a friend introduces her to Edgar Degas and her...