50 Women Artists You Should Know

by Christiane Weidemann

Now available in a new edition, this book offers more than 500 years of achievements in art by women. This beautifully produced, richly detailed, and comprehensive survey of fifty influential women artists from the Renaissance to the Post-Modern era details their vast contributions to the art world. From the Early Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi and the seventeenth-century illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian to Impressionist Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot, and to modern icons such as Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe and Louise Bourgeois, the most important female artists are profiled in this book in chronologically arranged double-page spreads. There is a succinct biography for each artist, together with information outlining her accomplishments and influence, additional resources for further study, and, best of all, brilliant full-color reproductions of the artist’s works. Packed with information, this stunning and absorbing book showcases the remarkable artistic contributions of women throughout history.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Feminism, Art History, Banned Books, Biography, Adult

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2008

Reviews

[Pudds Downing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the information I was able to glean from this book. I was, however, disappointed in it for a couple of reasons. First, having read "50 Artists You Should Know", I am aware that the publishers did not feel the need to discuss every male artist's female lover and they certainly did not go on at length if she was also an artist, or imply that these men may have gotten their style from their female counterparts. Yet, in this book, artist after artist is discussed in the shadow of her male companion.
The second disappointment is that the end of the book veers wildly into "alternative" artists. While I believe that there are many, many forms of art, I still don't see that standing almost nude while people snip at you with articles such as nail clippers until you nearly die fits into the category. I'd call that a mental illness, actually. And I have a hard time believing that there has not been a single woman painter born since 1908 who is worth mentioning. Yet the book gives that impression.
All in all, the book was "ok" but not what I had hoped it would be.

[Miri Gifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up expecting to just glance through it, but I ended up reading the whole thing. I also thought I would recognize several of the artists, but it turned out I'd only heard of Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Mary Cassatt. I feel like that's embarrassing, but then again those are the only three you'd ever learn about without studying art in depth, which I haven't. So maybe it's just sad on society's part. Most people, like me, probably didn't know that there were female Renaissance painters who were famous in their own time, and Baroque and Impressionist and Rococo, too, who were commissioned by nobles and clergy and royalty and worked alongside the men whose names were the only ones to come down through history. I found a lot of new (old) art to enjoy.

[Sally Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable discussion of the work of 50 female artists, almost all of them unknown to me. It also talks a little about their lives, many of which were tragic accounts of mis-use, appropriation and downright hostility from the artistic community, and sometimes their families. Mostly centred on pre-1920 artists.

[Mai M Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب جيد عرفني ع بعض الفنانات اللي مكنتش اعرفهم قبل كده
بس أكيد ف ناس تانيه
ف المجمل جيد
وبيعرض بعض شغلهم مع كلام عنهم 👍

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book. I loved how each page was headed by a timeline that placed the artist with others, with events, and in the scope of the historic artistic movements. Despite this being one of my areas of interest during my undergraduate degrees, I learned of artists I'd never heard of. On the other hand, 4/5 instead or 5 because some incredibly important artists - Evelyn de Morgan, Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta, Nancy Spero - were missing. I understand that only 50 could be chosen, but some sort of explanation of the decision process for inclusion and maybe a list of other names to explore would have been nice.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good cursory overview of important female artists. All of the biggest names are there along with dates of birth and death as well as a very brief description of style and famous works. Weidemann chose to include performance and installation artists, which other reviewers took offense to, but I found really refreshing. There is however, an imbalance in art forms over the decades with painters stacked heavily in the earlier centuries and sparsely represented in the modern age. Not exactly reflective of our global arts community.

[Rebecca Huston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully produced book on women in art, with plenty of pictures, essays and fitting in where, when they worked. An excellent resource for those who want a good starting point for further research.

For the complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_5...

[Jara De Boer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In tegenstelling tot het verwante boek "50 Art Movements You Should Know" is dit boek NIET shit!! wow!!! Niet alleen omdat er boeiende dingen in staan die ik nog niet wist (ik kon hiervoor like 3 vrouwelijke kunstenaressen opnoemen ofzo), maar omdat het veel beter in elkaar zit. Veel meer afbeeldingen en veel meer informatie.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I don’t know how to appreciate modern art, which includes photography, modern art exhibition items, or even just paintings. From abstract expressionism, or even from post-impressionism onwards, I can’t understand why the painting or the expression is beautiful at first sight or with simple introduction. Each piece of modern art seems to be paired with an essay explaining why it is good. I’m no art student or scholar. I want to learn more about art and artist simply out of the pursuit of appreciation to beauty. And the definition of “beauty” is very subjective, as far as I’m concerned.

This book is just average. It includes a very simple introduction to a female artist and one or several (usually just one) artworks. I would say it’s really simple introduction. For example, Käthe Kollwitz, there are so many thing more that can be talked about. But this book can be a good catalogue for you to explore more based on your own interest.

I listed some paintings that I like and some simple comments as follows:

Three Sisters Playing Chess by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555, Muzeum Norodowe, Poznan
I like the little girl in The Central, she looks so joyful and childish. Not all children are supposed to be childish, especially a lot of figures of children are expression of some religious symbol. So it’s kind of surprising to find a joyful little girl in a bunch of serious paintings.

Boy Playing the Flute by Judith Leyster, c. 1635, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
The boy’s eyes have “I wanna play outside with my friends” written in his eyes. LOLs. I like how the lighting is expressed in this painting. Not sure whether I used the right word, because I have no knowledge of painting. I simply just mean the source of light in this painting is at somewhere the boy is looking at, which I like a lot.

The Air (from the series The Four Elements) by Rosalba Carriera, Gmäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
I love the pearl earring in the painting, as well as the pearl bracelet. They have very elegant reflection of light. So does the fabrics of her clothes. Not sure what the pink ribbon-shaped part of the top is, the piece with light pink in a silver light, which looks like satin?

Self-Portrait by Anna Dorothea Therbusch, 1776/77, Gmäldegalerie, Berlin
I like the lighting in her skirt. I guess I just like the reflection of light from a satin fabrics.

Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffmann, oil on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
This is a typical “western painting” from on oriental-er. Chubby kids and women, Olympic geek style clothes, huge pillars, virtual landscape as backgrounds, all of these are typical elements of “western art” to me.

Portrait of Luise-Elisabeth of France, Duchess of Parma, and Her Son Ferdinard by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1788, Musée National du Château Trianons, Versailles
This is another typical “western painting”. And I’m surprised to find out the little kid is a boy. Good old days where boys can wear dresses naturally.

Portrait of Countess Golovin, c.1800, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, UK
Portrait of Margherita Portorati, 1792, Galleria Sabauda, Turin
Self-Portrait with Daughter, 1786, Musée du Louvre, Paris
all by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
They have very soft clear eyes. I like their eyes, and the wrinkles of their clothes. I don’t really like Italian paintings, especially around renaissance is because they have very cold and sad eyes, well, mostly to me.

Prelude to a Concert by Marguerite Gérard, c. 1810, oil canvas, National Museum of Women in Arts, Washington, DC
I like her dress, the reflection of light in satin fabrics (as always). Something seems interesting is that these two ladies seem not to be in the same zone. I feel like the lady in the dark is in a totally different dimension.

Sheep by the Sea by Rosa Bonheur, 1865, oil on canvas, National Museum of Women in Arts, Washington, DC
Ahh I’ve seen this painting before I read this book on Google Arts and Museum. What the odds.

Women at Her Toilette by Berth Morisot, c. 1875, The Art Institute of Chicago
I’ve definitely seen this painting somewhere but I cannot recall, probably again, Google Arts & Culture.

The Minuet by Elizabeth Armstrong Forbes, 1892, oil on canvas, Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance
I like this one a lot! The light is so gentle. The ambience is so warm and calm and pleasant. It feels like a lazy afternoon, maybe in winter, after a heavy snow or during long hour raining. Given the light from the window is so brightly white, I would picture it to be a cold afternoon after snowstorm. But it’s all calm now, people talking, dancing, playing music in a warm room with candle, wine and snacks. Maybe this is completely wrong, but it’s what I have in mind. A cozy, warm, winter afternoon.

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 50 woman artists in this collection include those from 16th century Renaissance to the present day, and represent a very wide range of styles. I saw a few old favorites here (Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Claudel), found some new favorites (the humanity of Kathe Kollwitz and the wild joie de vivre of Niki de Saint Phalle really struck me), and got an education on many others besides.

There is shocking performance art, such as Marina Abramovic’s “Rhythm o” (1974), in which “she presented herself to gallery visitors as an object and handed them a series of real objects, including nails, alcohol, a whip, and a saw; some visitors became so involved she was almost killed during this event.”, and Mona Haoum’s “Under Siege” (1982), in which “naked and covered in clay in a polytheme container, she fought for hours to stand up, slipping and falling continuously, so that viewers were helpless bystanders of her role as a victim.” (aside from Haoum’s other work, such as the exquisite glass piece, “Silence”).

As in the other “50” art series (side note, wow, wouldn’t it be great if this was more popular than the other “50” series?-), there are personal stories from the artists lives accompanying the pieces, some of which are tragic. Aside from those that involved dying young – Paula Modersohn-Becker (age 31, after childbirth), and Elisabetta Sirani (age 27, of a stomach ulcer), the ones that hit me hardest were those involving relationships. For example, Camille Claudel, and not just after her affair with Rodin (24 years older) had spiraled and ended in her claims of his plagiarism, but also in her spending the last 30 years of her life in a mental hospital, writing desperate letters to her brother which were ignored.

There is also the story of Gabrielle Munter and Wassily Kandinsky living as bohemian lovers until the outbreak of WWI, at which point Kandinsky moved away, first writing enthusiastic letters, but then married someone else with no explanation as she waited in vain for him – and despite that, she preserved Kandinsky’s paintings alongside her own when the Nazis started rounding up “degenerate art”. Lastly, Constance Mayer, who had an affair with her tutor who was 17 years older, supporting him and his kids when his wife was institutionalized, and ultimately committed suicide when he wouldn’t marry her even after his wife died.

There are references to the barriers that women had to overcome along the way, such as the public rape case of Aretemisia Gentileschi in 1611, following sexual advances from her teacher, artist Agostino Tassi, and unfairly acquiring a dubious reputation. It made me write “grrr” in the margins to see Goethe writing of Anjelica Kauffman that “she has incredible and – for a woman – huge talent”, and roll my eyes at Adelaide Labille-Guiard becoming the first woman to be permitted to set up a studio in the Louvre in the early 1790’s, after having been long refused because “the presence of women artists would corrupt the morals of the artists already working there”.

But this is not a book about victims that overemphasizes those aspects, it’s a celebration of art.

It’s easy to start to compare their works to better known male artists – for example, Gentileschi’s use of light and dark to Caravaggio’s (and in this case, she was a ‘disciple’), or the beautiful, loving mother that Elisabetta Sirani depicts In ‘Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist’ (c. 1660) to Raphael – and I suppose some of that is natural, but it’s important to see them as independent artists in their own right, not trying to be the equals of men, but to find their own artistic vision. Perhaps this is summarized best in the strength of Meret Oppenheim’s words about the female artist: “The taboos with which women have been held for thousands of years in a state of subjugation should no longer be regarded as valid. You will not be granted liberty. You must grasp it yourself.”

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

With lavish illustrations and brief introductory bios for every artist, this book is both easy and instructive. It starts in the Renaissance and touches on every period ending in our days. It does nor lay out any theories per se about why women had a marginal role in what we normally think of as the canon of western art but it hints at the usual suspects while letting the pictures speak for themselves. At the same time, the guest list demonstrates that women in every era have managed well, very well even. It does stand out how many of these artists were themselves daughters of artist and apprenticed within family tradition. Husbands, mentors (and child rearing) played a role as well both nurturing and detrimental. It is true that women were always steered to domestic subjects and that men's art commanded higher prices. Despite it all, the art presented defies anyone to adscribe it a gender and its merits stand alone. The book entices to explore further. I have always adored Kathe Kollwitz, Elizabet Vigee-Lebrun Rosa Bonheur or Cecilia Beaux but it was great to discover other great artists like Judith Leyster or Modersoh-Becker. Nice intro

[Rhonda Hankins]

I actually have the 2017 edition (not the original) . . . so with that caveat out of the way, this is a great book. Beautifully formatted, well written, good suggestions for further reading on each artist, and nice reproductions of sample work.

Lots of women I had never heard of before but that I will definitely look forward to learning more about.

My only quibble is that some really amazing women artists were omitted . . . perhaps the next version can be 60 Women Artists?

Yayoi Kusama, https://yayoikusamamuseum.jp/en/about...

Maya Lin, http://www.mayalin.com/

Jeanne-Claude, https://christojeanneclaude.net/proje...

And I think it might be worth investigating and including women who might not be so well represented in European and American museums such as https://www.wantedonline.co.za/art-de...

This is a great book and I hope the authors will keep expanding it and making it even better.

[Joanna Grelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

i am extremely disappointed in this book, as well as its companion, 50 Modern Artists You Should Know (separate review). While informative, the selection of artists is very telling in its canon creation (which is what “___ you should know” is). The majority of artists are from Europe and North America, with just a small sampling of people of color.

Where are the brilliant female artists from Africa? East Asia? South America? Where are the groundbreaking Aboriginal creators? Why are those highlighted mainly white & Euro-centric?

These are major exclusions, as, by omission, it implies that artists from the not-mentioned regions & ethnicities are women we *don’t* need to know. For a book published in 2017, such a thing is completely inexcusable.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well...I'll admit that at least half of these women artists were unknown to me...but then I'm an ignorant man with a deep interest in Art...with a capital A!
These undiscovered artists have brief pen pictures to go with examples of their work; a few might interest me further but many had, and still have, an underlying, socio-political energy that is fast becoming standard practice rather than avant-garde or revolutionary.
The emphasis in this collection...beyond the sex & gender issues...is on women's need to express themselves in all manner of media...and I think they should take the struggle against the female perspective to even deeper levels. Is that me 'off the hook'?

[Stephanie Hiddleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schöne Übersicht, aber warum bei den moderneren Künstlerinnen plötzlich keine Malerinnen mehr auftauchen ist mir ein großes Rätsel.

[Ida Stiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tittade mest på bilderna 🙃 lol att det var med vilka män konstnärerna var gifta med. Men allmänbildande!!!

[Carol McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mix of artists.

[Amber Therese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the information. I definitely have a deeper appreciation for their works. But a dull read.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good illustrations and choice of content A bit dumbed down and clunky in the text, but nevertheless I learned a good deal.

[Barbara Vick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview.

[James Kinsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to a number of artists I'd never heard of. Concise biographies, quality reproductions of their work, in a simple, easy-to-digest chronological format. A starting point for further investigation, clearly, and achieves that aim well. One notable thing - obviously all painters at first, the change over to sculpture/installation/performance is comprehensively instant and complete. Are there no important female painters working today?

[emiliewho · Rating 3 out of 5]

appreciating the local library's gift from the town's women's club.

great to have nice quality color pictures. it's really like a picture book. wish each artist got at least one extra spread of pictures though - some profiles only featured one work. has strengthened that realization of preference of fine art over modern art...

[July · Rating 3 out of 5]

I choose this book to find out about women artist's. There was only a small amount written on each woman. But the art was incredible. Some was to my taste, so was not. If you would like to know the most important information and probably their most common painting known this would be that book.

[Malika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very compelling throughout! Made me further convinced to attend an art school instead of a regular university. Interesting to read about thelives, ambitions, ideas, and accomplishments of these female artists! it's in chronological order, so I was able to see the evolutionary change.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intersting collection of artists. Although there are some I think should have been included.

[Sarah Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something very disturbing about the way this book begins and where it goes.

[Weathergrrrl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introductory text to artists you should know something about. The reproductions are good and there is a great timeline that help you locate the artist's contemporaries.