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WISDOM, WIT & VISION: Women of Age, Influence and Accomplishment.
Book Wisdom, Wit & Women of Age, Influence and Accomplishment by Michele Mattei
Wisdom, Wit & Vision is a curated pantheon of trailblazers women—artists, scientists, activists, intellectuals, and icons whose stories defy erasure.
Michele Mattei—award-winning photographer, cultural chronicler, and best-selling author—brings to life the stories of pioneering women who disrupted, reimagined, and reshaped the 20th and 21st centuries. Combining museum-quality portraiture with deeply personal interviews and masterful storytelling, Wisdom, Wit & Vision honors the wisdom and legacy of women aged 60 to 100+ who shaped our world. With the eye of a fine art photographer and the heart of a cultural historian, Michele Mattei crafts a narrative both intimate and monumental, elevating icons of politics, art, fashion, media, and social justice into guardians of legacy and catalysts for change.
Structured thematically, each chapter spotlights revolutionary women—from Betty Friedan's igniting of second-wave feminism to Carmen Dell’Orefice’s elegant rebellion against ageism in fashion; from Mathilde Krim’s fearless AIDS advocacy to Beatrice Wood’s bohemian provocations at 103. We meet Françoise Giroud navigating French politics with razor-sharp intellect and gold bracelets jingling with defiance, and Wilhelmina Holladay building an institution to house centuries of neglected genius.
Each chapter unfolds like a salon conversation infused with grace and fire. The voices within are they speak of sacrifice, seduction, injustice, and reinvention—humor as subversion, civility as strategy, and aging as an act of resistance.
Wisdom, Wit & Vision is a philosophical meditation on power and perception, beauty and age, public memory and private resilience. It is a celebration of legacy and an act of cultural restoration. It demands we remember the women who shaped our world and challenges us to live with the same audacity.
Wisdom, Wit & Vision is a curated pantheon of trailblazers women—artists, scientists, activists, intellectuals, and icons whose stories defy erasure.
Michele Mattei—award-winning photographer, cultural chronicler, and best-selling author—brings to life the stories of pioneering women who disrupted, reimagined, and reshaped the 20th and 21st centuries. Combining museum-quality portraiture with deeply personal interviews and masterful storytelling, Wisdom, Wit & Vision honors the wisdom and legacy of women aged 60 to 100+ who shaped our world. With the eye of a fine art photographer and the heart of a cultural historian, Michele Mattei crafts a narrative both intimate and monumental, elevating icons of politics, art, fashion, media, and social justice into guardians of legacy and catalysts for change.
Structured thematically, each chapter spotlights revolutionary women—from Betty Friedan's igniting of second-wave feminism to Carmen Dell’Orefice’s elegant rebellion against ageism in fashion; from Mathilde Krim’s fearless AIDS advocacy to Beatrice Wood’s bohemian provocations at 103. We meet Françoise Giroud navigating French politics with razor-sharp intellect and gold bracelets jingling with defiance, and Wilhelmina Holladay building an institution to house centuries of neglected genius.
Each chapter unfolds like a salon conversation infused with grace and fire. The voices within are they speak of sacrifice, seduction, injustice, and reinvention—humor as subversion, civility as strategy, and aging as an act of resistance.
Wisdom, Wit & Vision is a philosophical meditation on power and perception, beauty and age, public memory and private resilience. It is a celebration of legacy and an act of cultural restoration. It demands we remember the women who shaped our world and challenges us to live with the same audacity.
281 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2025
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