A book about women artists, a subject too often forgotten
4 stars
This beautifully illustrated book's about women artists, a topic which is often forgotten, just like these women themselves. In our modern culture, knowledge about women have been generally set aside in favor of men and that is true not only for artists but also scientists, poets and writers, or just about any other job one can think off.
Things did change, somewhat, but the general consensus remains male-focused in a patriarchal world.
The aim of this book isn't exhaustiveness in listing ALL the women artists in the entire world and in the entire history as that would take many volumes.
The aim, therefore, is to awaken curiosity and to nudge the reader to find out more information about the various artists the author chose to discuss and showcase their art, or to search other names.
Indeed, the book in divided into 7 chapters, each concentrating on a period such as …
This beautifully illustrated book's about women artists, a topic which is often forgotten, just like these women themselves. In our modern culture, knowledge about women have been generally set aside in favor of men and that is true not only for artists but also scientists, poets and writers, or just about any other job one can think off.
Things did change, somewhat, but the general consensus remains male-focused in a patriarchal world.
The aim of this book isn't exhaustiveness in listing ALL the women artists in the entire world and in the entire history as that would take many volumes.
The aim, therefore, is to awaken curiosity and to nudge the reader to find out more information about the various artists the author chose to discuss and showcase their art, or to search other names.
Indeed, the book in divided into 7 chapters, each concentrating on a period such as the renaissance, followed by the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, whilst the 20th in which many more women had broader access to the arts receives 2 chapters, one for the early part, and one for the mid century to mid 1980's.
The book's last chapter discusses new currents, followed by notes, a selected bibliography, acknowledgements and an index.
Nancy G. Heller evokes biographical insights into various women artists in Europe & North America, and proposes a quick overview of their artistic styles.
210 illustrations enrich the chapters, and 150 of them are in full color.
I loved the first 5 chapters, and I simply skimmed through the last two, because I do not like at all the artistic trends of the 1950's to 1980's, from Abstract Expressionism created after World war II, or the new currents of the 80's, which I personally find un-aesthetic.
In whole, the book meets its objectives, in my opinion, and I highly recommend reading it because the subject is so important and it's time to learn more about all these women artists.
I scored 8/10, because I wanted some small illustrations larger and I do not agree with the ultra-positive review of works of art that I didn't feel aesthetically pleasing.