In the epic story of modern art, Mary Cassatt has been cast as the premier painter of mothers and babies. Yet she created a world in which no one ever changed a diaper or ran out of milk. For decades she was dismissed as a paintbrush-wielding patrician unconnected to the make-it-new spirit of modern art. Yet at least since 1998, when the British feminist Griselda Pollock published the book “Mary Cassatt: Painter of Modern Women,” Cassatt has been rehabilitated as a proto-feminist who supported women’s suffrage and experimented daringly in her work. The approaching centennial of Cassatt’s death is inspiring a new round of exhibitions and books, and a reappraisal is welcome.

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Persons: Mary Cassatt, Cassatt, expatriated, Griselda Pollock, Painter, ” Cassatt, “ Mary Cassatt Organizations: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fine Arts Locations: Pittsburgh, France, British, San Francisco