365 Days of Art: April 14 – Mary Cassatt’s Dad Writes About Her Painting

April 14, 1886

Letter from Mary Cassatt’s father about Mary’s painting, Girl Arranging Her Hair:

Mame [Mary] is feeling pretty well and working like a beaver…on a little red-headed girl in demi-costume, dressing her hair before a glass. The two or three experts and artists who have seen it praise it without stint. As for Degas, he was quite enthusiastic, for him.

Degas always sounds a little like he was a pain in the ass.