This stirring account documents the centuries-long struggle of gifted women who confronted the exclusionary tactics of a male-dominated art establishment but pressed ahead undaunted to gain public acceptance as sought-after professional artists. The author takes readers deep into the restricted world of women artists of the past, showing how diligently they trained themselves, set up studios, and pursued sympathetic patrons. Starting with the flowering of Renaissance painters Sofonisba Anguissola and Properzia de'Rossi, the book reconstructs the changing world of women artists as social attitudes evolved. Seventeenth-century painters Artemisia Gentileschi and Judith Leyster enjoyed success by depicting subjects relevant to women, as did eighteenth-century greats Angelica Kauffmann and Elisabeth Vige-Lebrun with their themes of motherhood. Further breakthroughs came in the nineteenth century as young hopefuls Mary Cassatt and Marie Bashkirtseff strove to be admitted to exhibiting societies and opened art schools to help other women become professionals. Finally, as equality for women advanced through the twentieth century, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and Cindy Sherman led the way for today's talented women to secure their rightful place in the annals of art.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This informative and challenging volume on how women have made a place for themselves as artists over the last five centuries may come to be regarded as one of the most notable works in feminist art history of its day. Borzello, a major British voice on the social history of art with many books to her credit, musters much factual information to substantiate her surprisingly moderate position. Without minimizing the obstacles women artists have faced, Borzello boldly steps forward to argue that all was not bad for them. By doing so, she may risk heavy criticism from equally committed feminists. The six mostly chronological chapters range from "Out of the Shadows, 1500-1600" to "The Feminist Revolution, 1970 and After." Portraits of the artists, capsule biographies, and rich, large, and fine illustrations (100 in color and 100 in black-and-white) support the essays. Whatever point of view the reader brings to this book, it will capture the attention, and it should be essential reading for students and professionals alike. Highly recommended for all art/social history collections in public and academic libraries.DMary Hamel-Schwulst, formerly with Towson Univ., MD
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Frances Borzello has specialized in the social history of art since obtaining her doctorate at the University of London. Her most recent book, Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits, has been published in five countries
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Women Talk About Their Art,
By A Customer
This review is from: A World of Our Own (Hardcover)
The surprise about this book is the number of quotes from women artists themselves, not just from the l9th and 20th century, but from earlier centuries too. In the l6th century Sophonisba Anguissola's father thanks Michaelangelo for helping improve his daughter's drawing. In the l7th century, Artemisia Gentileschi says "I will show my lord, what a woman artist can do." In the l8th century, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun recalls her technique for making the most of the looks of the women she painted. The author shows how for 500 years women have made up a sigificant minority of the community of working artists. The book is lavishly illustrated with rarely seen images of women artists at work and of the paintings and sculptures they produced. This book would make a wonderful present!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than Information,
By A Customer
This review is from: A World of Our Own (Hardcover)
The New York reviewer makes a good point but it's not ALL quotes.The book is also pretty informative about the career options open to women in the past and how they made use of them. The author takes a level-headed view and makes you feel admiring of the way women have been getting on with the job of being artists for hundreds of years. There's some stimulating pages at the end about the role of feminism as well.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than Information,
By A Customer
This review is from: A World of Our Own (Hardcover)
The New York reviewer makes a good point but it's not ALL quotes.The book is also pretty informative about the career options open to women in the past and how they made use of them. The author takes a level-headed view and makes you feel admiring of the way women have been getting on with the job of being artists for hundreds of years. There's some stimulating pages at the end about the role of feminism as well.
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