This is the story of women caught up in thetumultuous art scene of the early twentiethcentury, some famous and others lost totime.By 1910 the patina of the belle poquewas wearing thin in London. Artists wereon the hunt for modern women who couldhold them in thrall. A chance encounter onthe street could turn an artless child intoan artists model, and a model into a muse.Most were accidental beauties, plucked fromobscurity to pose in the great art schoolsand studios. Many returned home to livesthat were desperately challenging almostall were anonymous.Meet them now. Sit with them in theCaf Royal amid the wives and mistressesof Londons most provocative artists. Peekbehind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts atwomen whose identities are some of arthistorys most enduring secrets. Drawing ona rich mlange of historical and anecdotalrecords and a primary source, this isstorytelling that sweeps up the reader inthe cultural tides that raced across Londonin the Edwardian, Great War and interwarperiods.A highlight of the book is a reveal of theAvico siblings, a family of models whosefaces can be found in paint and bronze andstone today. Their lives and contributionshave been cloaked in a century of silence.Now, illuminated by family photos and oralhistories from the daughter of one of themodels, the Avico story is finally told.

Instant New York Times bestseller The story of art as it’s never been told before, from the Renaissance to the present day, with more than 300 works of art. How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Guided by Katy Hessel, art historian and founder of @thegreatwomenartists, discover the glittering paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century United States and the artist who really invented the “readymade.” Explore the Dutch Golden Age, the astonishing work of postwar artists in Latin America, and the women defining art in the 2020s. Have your sense of art history overturned and your eyes opened to many artforms often ignored or dismissed. From the Cornish coast to Manhattan, Nigeria to Japan, this is the history of art as it’s never been told before.

'Fascinating & compelling. I loved all four women' ELODIE HARPER, author of THE WOLF DEN 'MAGNIFICENT...It's simply too good' KATIE LOWE, author of THE FURIES 'Utterly compelling' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE, author of THE MERCIES ___________________________________________ Vienna, 1912. Behind every painting, there is a story... A new century is dawning. Vienna is at its zenith, an opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music and radical ideas. It is a place where anything seems possible... Edith and Adele are sisters, the daughters of a wealthy bourgeois family. They are expected to follow the rules, to marry well, and produce children. Gertrude is in thrall to her flamboyant older brother. Marked by a traumatic childhood, she envies the freedom he so readily commands. Vally was born into poverty but is making her way in the world as a model for the eminent artist Gustav Klimt. Fierce, passionate and determined, none of these women is quite what they seem. But their lives are set on a collision course when they become entangled with the controversial young artist Egon Schiele whose work - and private life - are sending shockwaves through Viennese society. All it will take is a single act of betrayal to set their world on fire... _______________________________ 'Glorious' Guardian 'Intoxicating and evocative...full of controversy and drama. We loved it' Woman & Home 'Thought provoking and illuminating - I so enjoyed discovering the world and the women behind works of art I adore' KATE SAWYER, author of THE STRANDING 'An exquisite sense of place and era with a passion and sensuality that transcend time altogether.' ISABEL COSTELLO, author of SCENT 'Confident...urgent...illuminating' Sunday Times 'Impressive' The Times 'A stunning story of love, art and betrayal' RED magazine 'Full of scandal, love, betrayal, and heartache' Cosmopolitan 'Mesmerising' Good Housekeeping 'A drama of love, loss, rivalry and betrayal. A terrific debut, brilliantly imagined' Saga Debut of the Month 'An unforgettable book about wanting more for ourselves than we are told we are allowed' Ericka Waller, author of Dog Days

Drawing on untapped archives, as well as aggregating a wide range of existing published sources, this book recalibrates the understanding of women artists’ roles, outputs and receptions in London during what was indubitably a vibrant and innovative period in the history of British art, and in which the work of their male contemporaries is so well understood. The book takes its starting point from Alicia Foster’s article “Gwen John’s Self-Portrait: Art, Identity and Women Students at the Slade School,” published in 2000, where the expression “a talented and decorative group” was coined to describe common attitudes towards women artists in the late 19th and early 20th century London. This pejorative attribution strongly implied a status less significant to that of their male counterparts. The author challenges this statement's basic tenet by casting a wide net in examining women’s art education from the Slade School of Fine Art, through to the role of its graduates within a selection of London’s exhibition groups, societies and publications. This book also reconstructs ‘from scratch’ the role of the Women’s International Art Club (WIAC), hitherto entirely overlooked in art historical studies of the era. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in art and cultural history, gender studies,and in sociological studies of pre-War World War Britain.

Like many of their male peers, women artists have used their chosen mediums to explore and express their reactions to the violence of war, which they frequently experienced firsthand. The 345 named artists discussed in this book come from diverse backgrounds across hundreds of years. The book divides the 652 covered works of art into five general categories: those that provide support for the war effort, those that oppose war and/or support peace, those that document the impacts of war on the individuals who fight and the civilians who experience it, those that commemorate and memorialize the events and participants in war, and general representations of those who fight. While most of the women who documented the impact of war on those who experienced it were professional artists, self-taught artists have told equally compelling stories in their works. Whether working in a studio or on the battlefield, the women's professionalism and dedication allowed them to convey the impact of war powerfully.

First Published in 1997. This book is intended as a resource for anyone interested in the artistic contributions and activities of women in nineteenth-century Britain. It is an index as well as an annotated bibliography and provides sources for information about women well known in their own time and about women who were little known then and are forgotten now

What is the significance of gendered identification in relation to artists' moving image? How do women artists grapple with the interlinked narratives of gender discrimination and gender identity in their work? In this groundbreaking book, a diverse range of leading scholars, activists, archivists and artists explore the histories, practices and concerns of women making film and video across the world, from the pioneering German animator Lotte Reiniger, to the influential African American filmmaker Julie Dash and the provocative Scottish contemporary artist Rachel Maclean. Opening with a foreword from the film theorist Laura Mulvey and a poem by the artist film-maker Lis Rhodes, Women Artists, Feminism and the Moving Image traces the legacies of early feminist interventions into the moving image and the ways in which these have been re-configured in the very different context of today. Reflecting and building upon the practices of recuperation that continue to play a vital role in feminist art practice and scholarship, essays discuss topics such as how multiculturalism is linked to experimental and activist film history, the function and nature of the essay film, feminist curatorial practices and much more. This book transports the reader across diverse cultural contexts and geographical contours, addressing complex narratives of subjectivity, representation and labour, while juxtaposing cultures of film, video and visual arts practice often held apart. As the editor, Lucy Reynolds, argues: it is at the point where art, moving image and feminist discourse converge that a rich and dynamic intersection of dialogue and exchange opens up, bringing to attention practices which might fall outside their separate spheres, and offering fresh perspectives and insights on those already established in its histories and canons.