Forgotten Women: The Artists
£13.80£14.30 (-3%)
‘To say this series is “empowering” doesn’t do it justice. Buy a copy for your daughters, sisters, mums, aunts and nieces – just make sure you buy a copy for your sons, brothers, dads, uncles and nephews, too.’ – Independent
The women who shaped and were erased from our history.
Forgotten Women is a new series of books that uncover the lost herstories of influential women who have refused over hundreds of years to accept the hand they’ve been dealt and, as a result, have formed, shaped and changed the course of our futures.
The Artists brings together the stories of 48* brilliant woman artists who made huge yet unacknowledged contributions to the history of art, including Camille Claudel, the extraordinarily talented sculptor who was always unfairly overshadowed by her lover, Rodin; Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, who has been claimed as the true originator of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain; and Ana Mendieta, the Cuban refugee who approached violence against women through her performance art before her own untimely death.
With chapters ranging from Figurative to Photography, and Craft to Conceptual, this is an alternative guide to art history that demonstrates the broad range of artistic movements that included, and were often pioneered by, female artists who have been largely overlooked.
*The number of Nobel-prize-winning women.
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Cassell, 1st edition (20 Sept. 2018) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 224 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1788400178 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1788400176 |
| Dimensions | 14.9 x 2.2 x 21 cm |
by Ongo Gablogian
I was a keen student of Art History back in the day, so am always keen to add to my knowledge – and this excellent book did so. It`s a lovely read and puts some forgotten artists back in the discussion.
by HolyCheesus
I have the other series in this and they are wonderful. It’s exactly the type of book that needs to exist. It goes through an amount of female artists, with page or double-page bios about who they are, where they grew up, what work they did and most importantly, how it has affected the world we currently live in.
My only criticism of this particular book would be that there isn’t enough examples of the artists’ actual work, if anything sparks interest and would want to research further from it, but other than this, the whole series of books are worth getting.
by M. Stevens
Great quality hard-backed book. Bought for a friend who is an artist, and who I know will enjoy reading this.
by ArtichokesForAll
In these days when gender equality is such a big topic, it’s quite instructive to look back over history and see that almost all of the famous people in many fields are men. It’s particularly true in art, where everybody has heard of artists from Constable to Picasso, from da Vinci to van Gogh, but if you ask your average person in the street then it’s likely that they will struggle to moan a single prominent female artist.
This book attempts to redress this imbalance, and gives it a good go. There are biographies of 48 female artists; I’ll be honest and say that most of these I haven’t heard of. It’s particularly interesting to read about them and then work out who their contemporaries were; it really brings home how male-orientated this particular area of the arts has been, particularly when you realise that the art actually produced by these women is every bit the equal as that of that produced by men.
Where this book falls down slightly as far as I’m concerned is the lack of photographs of the best works of art by the artists featured therein. These are readily available online, but the book would have a much bigger impact on me if this issue had been addressed. Despite this, it’s an interesting and informative read, and demonstrates why gender equality is so important. Four stars.
by Bezerus Bezby
I’ve always felt that there is a disconnect with art and ordinary people and that it’s often dominated by men. That’s not to undermine in any way male artists, but women have often been ignored. This is a long overdue book which reflects the input and creative abilities of various female artists. It has a good mix of images and text to keep it engaging and interesting. The cover isn’t the best and so you need up follow the cliche of not judging a book by its cover! That’s a shame as a better cover might make this more appealing to a younger audience who might have felt excluded from art in a way I did as a young person who wasn’t wealthy! This is genuinely an interesting book and one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading: highly recommended
by M. Young
The media could not be loaded.
What a wonderful book! The layout reminded me a lot of the Rebel Girls book in that each few pages are dedicated to a different artist, accompanied by a colourful illustration to bring the book to life. I had only heard of two of the artists in the book already – Corita Kent – a former nun who became a fully paid up member of the pop art movement and Vivian Maier, a street photographer whose large body of work was only really discovered after her death. All the other artists were completely new and unheard of to me so it was exciting to learn more about their incredible work.
The book is helpfully divided into sections – Abstract, Figurative, performance & Conceptual, Craft, Photography and Design with profiles of female artists within each section.
This book, beautifully presented in hardback, would make a wonderful gift for someone looking for creative inspiration or wishing to expand their artistic knowledge.
by Mark Shackelford
I have had the Female Scientist book in this series – really excellent, and this addition which looks at the Female Artist (and how they were almost completely ignored) is just as good.
A minor quibble is the lack of actual pictures… a bit odd in an Art book?
But a very important exposure of the appalling ignorance and misogyny of our historically patriarchal society.
by Lesley70
I think it was recently stated on QI that only 4% of the art on display in museums and galleries around the world was created by female artists. Of the 48 artists, designers, photographers and crafters mentioned in this book I am pretty sure I had only heard of one of them – Sofonisba Anguissola. So having the opportunity to be introduced to these “Forgotten” artists and their stories is (for me) the best part of the book.
An introduction is probably the most accurate description of what you’re getting here. Each artist has three pages of text which covers their life story and a picture or depiction of them by one of eleven illustrators whose details are given in the back of the book. What is blatantly missing from this book (probably due to copyright or publishing issues) are the pictures and designs from the actual (forgotten) artists. So in that sense, it’s something of a flawed work (and I was torn between giving it three or four stars). It offers you a starting point for finding out about these artists (the bibliography is extensive) but shows you nothing of their art.
Overall – I think it’s a worthwhile read, and an excellent introductory resource for finding out about these women but you are always aware there is something missing.