The Letter

Mary Cassatt often depicted the private lives of women and children in her paintings. The Letter is one such painting, which she created in the Japanese wood block print style. The graphic decorations on the woman’s dress, as well as the wallpaper behind her, indicate the extent of the influence of Japanese art on her style. But the work, depicting a woman sitting at a desk indoors mailing an envelope, is more than just a quaint genre painting. By painting the woman in a room, Cassatt was making a statement about the way women were treated. She is sitting inside, alone, because social mores of the time restricted her activities outside the home.