TheCollector recently had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Alejandra Rojas Silva, Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) in Honolulu, Hawai’i. She took us behind the scenes of Mary Cassatt at Work, which opens at HoMA on June 21. The exhibition—the first of its kind in North America in 25 years—explores the iconic American Impressionist’s career and influence across six decades and various media.
Our Cassatt conversation with Dr. Rojas Silva covered many lesser-known complexities of the artist’s career, from discussions of class to the proliferation of Japanese printmaking in Paris. Watch the video below.
“I think what I’m most excited about is for people to understand and see the incredible contributions that Mary Cassatt made to modern art—to move beyond this idea that she is a ‘woman artist’ who portrays saccharine images of women and children, and to see her engage with professional modern life in a way that feels very poignant today.”
Mary Cassatt at Work at the Honolulu Museum of Art
An ambitious woman and innovative artist, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was the only American invited to participate in the groundbreaking Impressionist exhibitions in 19th-century Paris. Cassatt explored and elevated the literal and figurative confines of so-called “women’s work” around the turn of the 20th century. Her work was revolutionary—and remains resonant today—because it revealed depth in subjects long considered shallow by the male-dominated art establishment.
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Sign up to our Free Weekly NewsletterMary Cassatt at Work is the first major North American retrospective dedicated to the artist in 25 years. Notably, HoMA’s presentation of the exhibition features several works from the museum’s own collection, including The Banjo Lesson (pictured below), which has belonged to the museum since its inception nearly 100 years ago.
Printmaking, Class, and Other Interesting Insights into Cassatt
Cassatt’s distinctive depictions of women feel familiar to us now, but they were considered unusual, and sometimes even radical, at the time of their creation. This is because Cassatt dared to consider the invisible work of women—the details of their everyday efforts and experiences, both public and private—to be serious subjects of fine art.
Mary Cassatt at Work offers fresh insights into these depictions. Among these insights is the subject of class, an illuminating yet oft-overlooked lens through which to consider Cassatt’s work and the people it portrays. HoMA’s presentation of the exhibition also explores Cassatt’s innovations in printmaking. In fact, several of the Japanese ukiyo-e prints that directly inspired Cassatt now belong to the museum’s vast collection. Their inclusion in the exhibition illustrates the full trajectory of Cassatt’s under-recognized impact on the medium as we know it today.
Watch the full interview here:
Mary Cassatt at Work will be on view at the Honolulu Museum of Art from June 21 to October 12, 2025.
