Great Women Artists

by Phaidon Press

"Real changes are upon us, and today one can reel off the names of a number of first-rate women artists. Nevertheless, women are just getting started."― The New Yorker
Five centuries of fascinating female creativity presented in more than 400 compelling artworks and one comprehensive volume The most extensive fully illustrated book of women artists ever published,  Great Women Artists  reflects an era where art made by women is more prominent than ever. In museums, galleries, and the art market, previously overlooked female artists, past and present, are now gaining recognition and value. Featuring more than 400 artists from more than 50 countries and spanning 500 years of creativity, each artist is represented here by a key artwork and short text. This essential volume reveals a parallel yet equally engaging history of art for an age that champions a greater diversity of voices.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Feminism, History, Art History, Biography, Reference

464 pages, Hardcover

Published October 2, 2019

About the author

Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional offices in Paris and Berlin. -wikipedia

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite tales of art activism is when Faith Ringgold protested a major modernist art exhibit at The Whitney in 1970 for not including any women or Black artists in the exhibit. She, along with a few other women, protested by throwing menstrual pads and raw eggs at those gathering to view the art. Ringgold was arrested but would become a major figure in art activism, being a member of Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) and founding Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation in 1970 and National Black Feminist Organization in 1973.

Faith Ringgold 1930-2024

Which is to say that when the common accusation of there not being any “great” women artists gets thrown around, its a tragic misjudgement that not only discounts the many incredible women artists but also demonstrates an adherence to the patriarchal gatekeeping that kept women out of the spotlight as well as a lack of inspiration to seek them out. Luckily we have books like Great Women Artists from Phaidon Press to catalogue a fantastic array of women artists from the past five centuries. With over 400 artists from 50 different countries, this massive tome is an essential coffee table staple bursting with large, full color images on high quality glossy paper that gives voice to the long lineage of incredible women artists throughout the world. Like on of my personal favorites, Leonora Carrington:

This is a great book and I learned about SO many artists I was previously unfamiliar with, as well as enjoyed matching a name to art I’d seen before or had fun revisiting well known artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Khalo, Dorothea Lange, Yayoi Kusama, Mary Cassatt, and more. The biographical blurbs are a bit short and having a bit more on the history would be nice, but I understand this book focuses more on looking at the art and learning the names and is a great resource to point you in the direction of further learning.

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

I also really enjoyed that there is a great variety to the art formats here. While there are a lot of paintings this book also gives a good overview of installation pieces, performance art, photography, and more which was cool to see. I really enjoyed a lot of the photography included.

Joan Jonas

I also really liked the history on activism to get more attention to women who had been denied the spotlight or had their work overshadowed/silenced by men (a good book on the subject is I’m Not Your Muse from Lori Zimmer). I especially enjoyed the small section on the Guerrilla Girls, such as their add saying “For the 17.7 million you just spent on a single Jasper Johns painting, you could have bought at least one work by all of these women and artists of color” with a long list provided. That rules:


There are so many amazing artists in here and this is a treasure trove of beauty and information. Great Women Artists is a wonderful coffee table book you’ll want to look at again and again and again and again.

4.5/5


Hilma Af Klint


Artemisia Gentileschi

[da AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Massive and wonderful and massively wonderful! I know some about art, but not enough be sure whether this is technically 'end all' -- but I sure enjoy thumbing through it. My only wish is that the text wasn't so shiny and tiny. Makes me want to see more and know more about each artist!

[Hally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been sent this by a friend who knew I’d be interested, I spent half a day pinned into place (literally) by a great volume of gorgeous glossy examples of art by 400 women across 50+ countries over 500 years. Each artist is represented by a single artwork, and their lives and styles are summarised in just one paragraph. As a modern-art fan, I found this to be just enough as a reminder of many of my classic favourites (Abramovic, Emin, Holzer, Goldin, Kusama, Bourgoise, Wearing, O’Keefe, Kahlo, Sherman,) and was given enough of an introduction to some new loves, whose works I then proceeded to google for more examples.

Thanks to this book I can now delve further into the tender and dreamlike Swedish scenes of Mamma Andersson, have been introduced to Ruth Asawa’s elegant yet elaborate hanging wire sculptures, somewhat ostentatious yet reminiscent of modestly woven baskets. I’ve been captured by Yin Xiuzhen’s portable cities: miniature cities formed by her family’s old clothes presented within open suitcases. I’ve been reminded of Rose Wylie and her lively and entertaining paintings as well as Deana Lawson’s celebrity and everyday photographs. I’ve found Betty Woodman’s colourful 3D ceramics and her daughter Francesca Woodman’s eery subjects captured in black and white. I’m grateful to have discovered Carrie Mae Meems and the many photographs of social scenes all taken from the same angle at her kitchen table, and I long to one day stand amongst the soft draping dyed-wool structures of Cecelia Vicuna’s work. I've even been drawn in by the work of Suzanne Valadon; her Post-Impressionist and Symbolist style being teamed with a capturing of ordinary subjects, and I am now obsessed with Pat Steir’s Waterfalls as well as Sophie Calle’s Hotel Room diptychs. Next I am to do further research on Betye Saar’s mystical assemblages, Tschabalala Self’s bright and characterful depictions of black women’s bodies and Florine Stettheimer’s familiar and fun paintings of party scenes reminiscent of children's book illustrations.

Great Women Artists is an inspiring and diverse collection of art great for the coffee table (or to double up AS a coffee table). I felt nostalgic revisiting some of the artists’ works I’d loved during GCSE years and how they no longer speak to me as much as others, which means I’ll be able to revisit this book and see which pieces that I may have only glanced at this time will jump out at me in the future. It’s great having more excellent artists on my radar and I hope to see some of their work in the flesh.

p.s thanks Ben

[Wendelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did someone say, why are there no great women artists?! Well here are 500 pages and 500 years of them

[Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book. Every page is about a different female artist (in alphabetical order) with a color reproduction of a significant piece of art she authored and a short biography at the bottom of the page. The art is really remarkable and thought-provoking and the book juxtaposes many mediums and time periods. I do wish that the artists' biographies had been more substantial, for instance as longer summaries at the back of the book in the manner of the "Women of Abstract Expressionism" monograph. I also wish that pioneering artists like Dorothea Lange didn't see themselves reduced to their one foremost piece of art, in this case "The Migrant Woman." If you're willing to pay $60 for a book on great women artists, you probably already know about "The Migrant Woman." She has other photographs worthy of inclusion, really. But I was pleased that other artists such as Berenice Abbott and Elaine de Kooning were represented using less famous works. Judy Chicago, Georgia O'Keeffe, Dora Maar, Leonora Carrington, Grace Hartigan - they're all there. This book is a must-have if you care about modern and contemporary art, whether by female artists or not.

So overall the book hits the sweet spot between being informative for novices and teaching people who have followed women artists something new for years. The book is of high quality, production standards were impeccable. It is a book I like returning to over and over for inspiration. I highly recommend it.

[Marina Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good collection of incredible artists!! This book is proof that for centuries those driving art forward have been female, LGBT, Black, Indigenous, Latinx &/or Hispanic, gender non-conforming, nonbinary, out of the box, beautiful humans. One of my all time favourite works of art is Audrey Wollen's GIRLS OWN THE VOID (I don't think it was included in this book, but still), and this book is proof that girls* own not only the void, but artmaking itself, and they have for centuries. Recommend this book to any devil's advocate in your art history class. :)

[Heila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't mind me ~ I'm just over here, poring over this ~ I almost couldn't stop after I opened it up for the first time last night and then was getting tired. My heart and soul are filling (with the reality of women, existing, as people, as artists) as I read... woman after woman after woman, creating ~ all different...

And the work itself...

I really like the format of one large photo + one well-written paragraph per page.

Now I have two lists going -- of ones to further investigate and ones to pin / create a board on Pinterest for further reference.

Thank God ~ Finally

[Tex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expanding from The Art Book to concentrating solely on women artists. It is a lovely collection for my continued research with a surprising number of artists that I had already studied. Thrilled for it to live here with me.

[Christie McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this!

[Heleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A necessary staple

[Lino Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Women Artists
Phaidon Press Limited
2019
Design Pentagram
Printed in Italy


Great Women Artists brings together the work of over 400 artists from more than 50 countries spanning 500 years. Or so the book tells us. In truth, I read sections and parts, but mostly I let my eyes wander as I took a ‘passeggiata’ through this book.
I have highlighted some of my stops, but I encourage you to take your own stroll and make your own stops, - after all art is in the eyes of the beholder.
This interesting volume prompted me to look up Linda Nochlin’s 1971 essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists.” (See below)
1. Let us, for example, examine the implications of that perennial question (one can, of course, substitute almost any field of human endeavour, with appropriate changes in phrasing): “Well, if women really are equal to men, why have there never been any great women artists (or composers, or mathematicians, or philosophers, or so few of the same)?”
2. Those who have privileges inevitably hold on to them, and hold tight, no matter how marginal the advantage involved, until compelled to bow to superior power of one sort or another.
3. As John Stuart Mill pointed out more than a century ago: “Everything which is usual appears natural. The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural.”
4. Always a model but never an artist might well have served as the motto of the seriously aspiring young woman in the arts of the 19th century.
5. … they destroy false consciousness, take part in the creation of institutions in which clear thought—and true greatness—are challenges open to anyone, man or woman, courageous enough to take the necessary risk, the leap into the unknown.
6. Author: Linda Nochlin is professor of art history at Vassar. This article is based on a section of the anthology Woman in Sexist Society: Studies in Power and Powerlessness, to be published by Basic Books in April.

Art and business are also intertwined – for me at least. Who owns the image from a work of art? An excellent article explained it in legal terms that were comprehensible, we think in Business English:
“Generally, copyright lasts for the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and for 50 years following the end of that calendar year. Therefore, protection will expire on December 31st of the 50th year after the author dies. In the case of a work that has more than one author, the copyright will last for the remainder of the calendar year in which the last author dies, and for 50 years after that.”
This volume follows up on The Art Book in 1994, which presented artists from A to Z by their name rather than in chronological order or by some other curated fashion.
The book wants to be and succeeded in being a celebration of the creativity of women.
Without seeing my selections this review is only partial we encourage you to click and take a stroll or passeggiata with me…


Here are some of the works that caught my eye, of course on a different day it may have been others. That is the beauty of a passeggiata. You meet and see different things, even on the same path.
24: Hilma AF Klint, Group X, No.1 Altarpiece.
Days after I noted this piece as I saw a print on a wall in a TV series that I was watching. Made me think – hmmm….
The book notes that “recent exhibitions have brought Klint international recognition as the earliest exponent of abstract art.
28: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Dwell: Aso EBI: intriguing use of detailed photo-transfers which are collated as part of paintings.
88: Emily Carr made the wild and enchanting landscapes of Canada’s northwest coast and the cultures of its indigenous people the subjects of her art. She was a trailblazer among modern artists. Emily Carr’s Big Raven
102. Camille Claudel The Waltz
I am a fan of bronzes. They seem to exude warmth. It is not surprising to me that Camille Claudel was a student, worked with and had a stormy relationship with Rodin. It shows in their work?
103: Dana Claxton, Cultural Belongings. Of mixed heritage, both European and Native American, the art attacks the stereotypes.
126: Rose-Adelaide Ducreux, self portrait with a harp, 1791, – she had talent as a painter and a harpist and had access to training and support via her father.
129. Mabel Dwight, Children’s Clinic, is best remembered for lithographs depicting life in the 1930s.
165. Guerrilla Girls, conscience of the art world, When Racism and sexism are no longer fashionable
172: Margaret Harrison, Captain America, founder of Women’s Liberation Art Group and has an interesting take on life…
192: Jenny Holzer, “Abuse of Power comes as no Surprise”, Truisms..she distilled each book from her university studies into a single line…
239: Tamara De Lempicka, Young Woman in Green, the paintings capture the look and feel of the ‘Art Deco’ period in a way that is pleasing to the eye and to the soul…
287: Anna Mary Robertson (“Grandma’) Moses, Yellow House – folk artists who only started to work proficiently in her 70’s – then she had something to say? Captivating.
370: Amy Sherald, Michelle Lavaughn Robinson Obama..shot to fame with this portrait and after years as painting her subjects as humans.
417: Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, The chess game

Lino Matteo ©™
Twitter @Lino_Matteo

[Upasana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I've had it since December 2019 and it never stays on the shelf for long. No book of women artists can ever hope to be all-inclusive, but this Phaeton publication does lay some good foundational work. I dip into it often. It is rich in content, well written and beautifully and generously illustrated.

[Diane Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve so enjoyed working my way through this. Each page features an artist and one or more of her representative works. The artists are listed alphabetically which takes them out of time and any sense of ranking. I found a lot that I loved, and have new artists’ work to explore.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating large format and heavy book with over 450 pages informing us of hundreds of accomplished women artists arranged in alphabetical order, and covering hundreds of years of human history. It kept my attention for hours.

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully designed book and an education for anyone wanting to look at great art from the last 5 centuries. Looking forward to Part II!

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculously good 😤

[Julio R. Ra · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are minor imperfections on the book, it seems that the printing was not supervised. The book is a good collection of visual artists, mostly from artists born in the USA and England, or from collections held in museums located in the USA or England. Most of the artists in this collection found a way to express their feminist ideology through their work, and that is worth noting also. I enjoyed seeing lots of Mexican artists, it seems that the voice of the publisher was somewhat interested in sharing the struggle of Mexican women and the reality in which they inhabit. I will cherish this book as a defective time piece, and hope that artists from other nationalities, religious beliefs, and ethnicity are showcased more prominently in the future, especially in a book dedicated to women.

[Parthena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently reading a page or two a day about artists who were denied attention, recognition, were not valued or were judged by men's standards. These artists happen to be women and this book gives one a glimpse into who these artists were. They are being acknowledged, just a bit. Now we need full books on them and for the rest of the artists across the centuries who are women to be given their due. More books please!

[Einar Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Women Painters was a great collection of paintings and artist biographies. It was published in 2022, which makes it a massively overdue contribution to understanding global artistic expression. Best of all, it introduced me to several new-to-me painters. The book inspired me to Google additional paintings by Shiva Ahmadi, Jordan Casteel, Inka Essenhigh, Luchita Hurtado, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Jessie Makinson, Mary Swanzy, and Caroline Walker. It was a great find at my local library.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would always be contentious about what constitutes 'great'. They seem to have gone for international fame and inclusion in a Venice Biennale. It is a useful overview of well recognised artists.
The illustrations are OK and the brief text an informative summary

[blossom · Rating 4 out of 5]

muy guay, me ha descubierto muchísimas artistas que no conocía.

[Kaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and entertaining. Had to research some of the amazing women's other works and their history.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many unknown women artists that should be learned about!!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Featuring more than 400 artists from more than 50 countries and spanning 500 years of creativity, each artist is represented here by a key artwork and short text.”