Heroic Women of the Art World
By Eugene H. Pool
Pages: 200
Ages: 12+
Subject: Art History
Publisher: Tumblehome
Despite its – in my opinion – extremely unattractive cover, this book is a treasure. Showcasing women in the art field from the 17th century through the present, this book not only features names that might be familiar but many you have likely never heard before. Not only were the subjects talented in their own right, but they also pushed the glass ceiling in eras, locations, and fields where women were – and sometimes still are – seldom found and almost never dominated. In addition to painters, featured women are sculptors, architects, a muralist, a museum curator, a photographer, an electronic artist, a conservator, art activists, and even an art theft law enforcement officer.
As the daughter of a woman who minored in art history in college and who grew up in Asia and Europe, I consider myself fairly well versed in the subject, so I was delighted to discover in this book several artists with whom I was completely unfamiliar. It is also worth noting that while most of the women are European, three women – one each from Iraq, China, and Mexico (if you guessed Frida Kahlo, you would be correct) – are also given a spotlight. Although the book gives examples of each artist’s work, I enjoyed an evening of searching out more of their material online.
The earliest featured artist, Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), became both the court painter and lifelong friend and confidant of Isabel, wife of King Philip II of Spain. The conservator highlighted is one of the art world’s most famous – but someone often neglected in art books: Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, who spent the bulk of her career preserving Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Closing out the book is a contemporary group, The Guerrilla Girls, that advocates for arts visibility for women and other minorities.
There are seventeen women showcased, so if you wanted to make this a semester-long, study one woman each Friday kind of project, this book is the perfect length. I read the book cover to cover in a matter of several hours; a high schooler could easily cover several of the subjects daily if you wanted a quicker study as part of a broader art curriculum. The subject matter and the format in which it is delivered are accessible for all dialectic and rhetoric students (and plenty engaging for adults, too). I absolutely recommend this one for your art history shelf.
