Gluck: Art and Identity

by Amy de la Haye, Martin Pel, Gill Clarke (Contributor)

Hannah Gluckstein (who called herself Gluck; 1895–1976) was a distinctive, original voice in the early evolution of modern art in Britain. This handsome book presents a major reassessment of Gluck's life and work, examining, among other things, the artist's numerous personal relationships and contemporary notions of gender and social history. Gluck's paintings comprise a full range of artistic genres—still life, landscape, portraiture—as well as images of popular entertainers. Financially independent and somewhat freed from social convention, Gluck highlighted her sexual identity, cutting her hair short and dressing as a man, and the artist is known for a powerful series of self-portraits that played with conventions of masculinity and femininity. Richly illustrated, this volume is a timely and significant contribution to gender studies and to the understanding of a complex and important modern painter. 
 

Genres: Art, Lesbian, Biography, LGBT, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2017

About the author

Amy de la Haye is Professor of Dress History and Curatorship, Rootstein Hopkins Chair, London College of Fashion.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book for those interested in Gluck and (in some parts) feels like a prescriptive for art gallery workers or an example for undergraduate/graduate students on how to structure a good art history paper.

The book's chapters, though written by different authors, refer both backward and forward in the text (to written content as well as illustrative figures) which I thought showed great editing and thoughtfulness.

Chapters 4&5 (especially 4) were my favorite.

Most personal to me were chapters 7&8 (especially 7).


Also, on a personal note: This had been in my TBR pile since early last year. I feel like I've been stuck for a bit reading things that felt either very comfortable or a little numbing because the world is stressful. I'm trying to use a little bit of optimism and engage with/start new things that are more personal/challenging/substantive. This was a good book to start with, I think.