A World of Our Own - Hardcover

Borzello, Frances

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823058743 ISBN 13: 9780823058747

Publisher: Watson-Guptill, 2000

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Watson-Guptill
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0823058743
• ISBN 13: 9780823058747
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224