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The Trouble with Women Artists: Reframing the History of Art
Sixty-seven female artists and their work from the sixteenth century to the present demonstrate the evolution of art through a female-empowered lens.
The history of art has been forever considered, written, published, and taught by men, primarily for a male audience. For women, the mere possibility of becoming an artist--to have access to the necessary materials, to produce, exhibit, and, against all odds, succeed and sustain the activity--has been an incessant, dangerous, and exhausting fight--physically, mentally, and psychologically. The time has come to reframe the history of art in the context of the brave women who had the courage to defy all rules in order to pursue their vocation and carve out their place in the art world.
This book draws the portraits of sixty-seven fascinating women and their significant artistic achievements, from groundbreaking Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi to the photography of Nan Goldin today. Tracing the painters, sculptors, photographers, and performance artists who shaped modern art, readers discover key figures and their signature works, including Mary Cassatt, Sonia Delaunay, Georgia O'Keeffe, Tamara de Lempicka, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington, Yoko Ono, Eva Hesse, Marina Abramović, Carrie Mae Weems, and Cindy Sherman.
Exploring the codes and archetypes of art history, this celebration of women in art analyzes their slow but steady achievement of artistic independence and the hard-won recognition for their creative work in a domain historically reserved for men.
The history of art has been forever considered, written, published, and taught by men, primarily for a male audience. For women, the mere possibility of becoming an artist--to have access to the necessary materials, to produce, exhibit, and, against all odds, succeed and sustain the activity--has been an incessant, dangerous, and exhausting fight--physically, mentally, and psychologically. The time has come to reframe the history of art in the context of the brave women who had the courage to defy all rules in order to pursue their vocation and carve out their place in the art world.
This book draws the portraits of sixty-seven fascinating women and their significant artistic achievements, from groundbreaking Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi to the photography of Nan Goldin today. Tracing the painters, sculptors, photographers, and performance artists who shaped modern art, readers discover key figures and their signature works, including Mary Cassatt, Sonia Delaunay, Georgia O'Keeffe, Tamara de Lempicka, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington, Yoko Ono, Eva Hesse, Marina Abramović, Carrie Mae Weems, and Cindy Sherman.
Exploring the codes and archetypes of art history, this celebration of women in art analyzes their slow but steady achievement of artistic independence and the hard-won recognition for their creative work in a domain historically reserved for men.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published September 3, 2019
9 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 19, 2018
This doesn't even deserve a star.
Apparently French journalist Adler is knowledgeable enough about feminism not to mention one single art historian who's worked in the field on gender studies before her. Seriously how come someone with a Ph.D can write extensively about the history of women without a single footnote or reference? Linda Nochlin, Griselda Pollock, Norma Broude, anyone? Helloooo?
Not to mention that some significant artists such as Hannah Höch, Evelyn de Morgan, Judith Leyster, Christine de Pisan, Suzanne Valadon, and many others, that are sorely missed.
This book - or shall I call it heap of garbage - thus results in a collection of meaningless biographies merely recording the most noticeable events in some of these women's lives without the slightest aim at analysis. And please, PLEASE stop blabbering about the "exceptionnality" and "genius" of these women, which are male-defined concepts and only serve to reinforce the marginal status of femininity.
Clearly Laure Adler has not read at all about feminist art history and doesn't intend to.
Apparently French journalist Adler is knowledgeable enough about feminism not to mention one single art historian who's worked in the field on gender studies before her. Seriously how come someone with a Ph.D can write extensively about the history of women without a single footnote or reference? Linda Nochlin, Griselda Pollock, Norma Broude, anyone? Helloooo?
Not to mention that some significant artists such as Hannah Höch, Evelyn de Morgan, Judith Leyster, Christine de Pisan, Suzanne Valadon, and many others, that are sorely missed.
This book - or shall I call it heap of garbage - thus results in a collection of meaningless biographies merely recording the most noticeable events in some of these women's lives without the slightest aim at analysis. And please, PLEASE stop blabbering about the "exceptionnality" and "genius" of these women, which are male-defined concepts and only serve to reinforce the marginal status of femininity.
Clearly Laure Adler has not read at all about feminist art history and doesn't intend to.
November 5, 2019
One thing is for sure: there have been a lot more female artists over the years than tend to be covered in standard art history.
We could argue about why exactly that is, and how best to go about addressing the issue, but that's really outside the scope of this book. Its thesis is pretty much, “Here's a bunch of female artists from various eras of art history that we think deserve to be more well-known. Go investigate further if any of them interest you.” It doesn't pretend to be a complete list, and it definitely doesn't give much depth on any of them. Each artist is limited to a two page spread consisting of a brief biography and one or two photos of their work.
The book is arranged chronologically based on date of birth, so we get a nice sense of shifting styles over the centuries, from Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1535-1625) to Lola González (born 1988). If your art education has been as messy and free-ranging as mine, you’ll find this a mixture of old and new faces. Most folks will likely recognize Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, maybe Mary Cassatt and Artemisia Gentileschi as well. More people are probably familiar with Yoko Ono from her marriage to John Lennon than from her art, which is a shame. A few others were familiar to me (always loved Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman, and Meret Oppenheim’s fur-covered cup and saucer is an iconic Surrealist work), but most were new to me. I'm definitely going to do some digging.
The book is a bit on the superficial side, sure. But its intention is more to spark curiosity than to satisfy it. This is one of those books that will result in your wanting to read many others. It's a gateway drug. Recommended!
We could argue about why exactly that is, and how best to go about addressing the issue, but that's really outside the scope of this book. Its thesis is pretty much, “Here's a bunch of female artists from various eras of art history that we think deserve to be more well-known. Go investigate further if any of them interest you.” It doesn't pretend to be a complete list, and it definitely doesn't give much depth on any of them. Each artist is limited to a two page spread consisting of a brief biography and one or two photos of their work.
The book is arranged chronologically based on date of birth, so we get a nice sense of shifting styles over the centuries, from Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1535-1625) to Lola González (born 1988). If your art education has been as messy and free-ranging as mine, you’ll find this a mixture of old and new faces. Most folks will likely recognize Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, maybe Mary Cassatt and Artemisia Gentileschi as well. More people are probably familiar with Yoko Ono from her marriage to John Lennon than from her art, which is a shame. A few others were familiar to me (always loved Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman, and Meret Oppenheim’s fur-covered cup and saucer is an iconic Surrealist work), but most were new to me. I'm definitely going to do some digging.
The book is a bit on the superficial side, sure. But its intention is more to spark curiosity than to satisfy it. This is one of those books that will result in your wanting to read many others. It's a gateway drug. Recommended!
September 22, 2019
Disappointing. A small sampling of women artists, lacking diversity and a deeper analysis of their work. Possibly okay as a basic introduction to some lesser known artists.
August 3, 2022
This book got a bunch of criticism and some of them are fair : the introduction was perhaps too basic and not explain enough about art historians like Linda Nochlin and there was no bibliography, the portraits are brief and sometimes a bit shallow and the selection of 67 women artists was obviously going to make some people mad with artists missing. Finally, I do question the choice of the photo for Yoko Ono’s portrait that seems so antithetical to the text, why was John Lennon on the photo when the text explained that their relationship shadowed her artistic work?
However, I appreciated the book for what it was : a visual introduction to women artists and their challenges over the years. If some of the artists were very familiar to me (Vigée le Brun, Morisot, Claudel, Lempicka, etc.), I discovered a lot of artists that I am intrigued to learn more about (Hoch, Tanning, Viera da Silva, etc.). The visuals are nicely chosen overall and the small texts are attractive enough to make the reader curious about the artists.
As for the introductory text, I thought it provided some good keys to understanding the misrepresentation of women artists over the years. The essay goes over the challenges women artists had like learning how to paint in a sexist world and questions the idea of genius shaped by male art historians. I enjoyed the focus of the writers in refusing to « cage » women artists to their so-called femininity and make them mostly models or examples of the women’s cause. Finally, I think this book manages to pay tribute to these women artists and gives them much needed visibility.
However, I appreciated the book for what it was : a visual introduction to women artists and their challenges over the years. If some of the artists were very familiar to me (Vigée le Brun, Morisot, Claudel, Lempicka, etc.), I discovered a lot of artists that I am intrigued to learn more about (Hoch, Tanning, Viera da Silva, etc.). The visuals are nicely chosen overall and the small texts are attractive enough to make the reader curious about the artists.
As for the introductory text, I thought it provided some good keys to understanding the misrepresentation of women artists over the years. The essay goes over the challenges women artists had like learning how to paint in a sexist world and questions the idea of genius shaped by male art historians. I enjoyed the focus of the writers in refusing to « cage » women artists to their so-called femininity and make them mostly models or examples of the women’s cause. Finally, I think this book manages to pay tribute to these women artists and gives them much needed visibility.
July 24, 2019
Cet ouvrage est un catalogue d'artistes féminines, plutôt intéressant pour "débuter" si l'on en connaît aucune et que l'on souhaite découvrir quelques personnalités marquantes, mais bien insuffisant en lui-même. Les biographies proposées sont très superficielles (seulement une double-page par artiste, accompagnée de deux tableaux) et comportent parfois des descriptions de tableaux plutôt que de réelles analyses du travail artistique. En outre, en dehors de l'introduction mettant en avant le parti pris féministe de l'autrice, à aucun moment on ne comprend réellement en quoi "les femmes artistes sont dangereuses", en quoi elles ont bouleversé les codes.
December 4, 2021
I wanted to love this book. I love reading about women artists. However, this fell flat for me because there are absolutely NO citations for any of the information presented in the book. And I saw several examples of inaccurate information. But who would really know, since there are no citations? No index, either. Disappointing and not something that I would recommend to use as a resource.
March 27, 2022
Just fine. It has one slightly canned introductory essay about how women are excluded from art history and how women's work is usually written about in irritating and sexist ways and then proceeds with the 67 biographies of women artists. These are really basic, in many cases they could be the accompanying wall text in an average museum. I wish there had been some more effort to make these individual essays cohere together, such as arranging them thematically or segmenting them with additional essays.
I think I'm just annoyed about how the title is misleading: it's a book about women artists, it doesn't "reframe" anything in any interesting way nor does it offer any original insight into these artists and their work. In some cases it is even regressive, I was annoyed by the lack of acknowledgment of Rosa Bonheur's lesbianism. Yoko Ono's chapter begins by lamenting that her artistic work has been overshadowed by her relationship with John Lennon, but then that chapter is also illustrated by a picture of Yoko Ono and John Lennon, rather than any of her artworks. Again the overall book isn't horrible but it's just a little generic and doesn't offer anything unique.
I think I'm just annoyed about how the title is misleading: it's a book about women artists, it doesn't "reframe" anything in any interesting way nor does it offer any original insight into these artists and their work. In some cases it is even regressive, I was annoyed by the lack of acknowledgment of Rosa Bonheur's lesbianism. Yoko Ono's chapter begins by lamenting that her artistic work has been overshadowed by her relationship with John Lennon, but then that chapter is also illustrated by a picture of Yoko Ono and John Lennon, rather than any of her artworks. Again the overall book isn't horrible but it's just a little generic and doesn't offer anything unique.
April 15, 2019
Cet ouvrage de Laure Adler est très intéressant tant sur les artistes présentées que sur le propos. Elle offre une liste non exhaustive de femmes artistes qui ont marqué l'histoire de l'art non pas car ce sont des femmes ou par des sujets engagés dans le thème du genre mais bien par leur talent artistique. J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre et j'ai hâte de découvrir ses autres publications !
March 30, 2023
It definitely tries but some of the writer's language, at least to me, sounded a bit too condescending and it's a shame because we need books like this, we need women artists who were often driving force behind many changes and evolution of art and are not given the credit.
What I do applaud is the diversity of artists mentioned, while it stays footed strongly in Europe, there are also important American and Asian artists, and African women artists would deserve a bigger role to play in the book.
In short, it's brief, you will learn of artists you've never heard which is amazing of but as a whole, the book could have been much better and should have been, seeing how little we read of female artists, the further down the history lane you go, the fewer women you encounter, but they existed and they painted.
Would recommend reading alongside with The Short Story of Art: A Pocket Guide to Key Movements, Works, Themes, & Techniques
What I do applaud is the diversity of artists mentioned, while it stays footed strongly in Europe, there are also important American and Asian artists, and African women artists would deserve a bigger role to play in the book.
In short, it's brief, you will learn of artists you've never heard which is amazing of but as a whole, the book could have been much better and should have been, seeing how little we read of female artists, the further down the history lane you go, the fewer women you encounter, but they existed and they painted.
Would recommend reading alongside with The Short Story of Art: A Pocket Guide to Key Movements, Works, Themes, & Techniques
April 19, 2020
An interesting look at female artists through the ages, and great to see their work celebrated. But it’s an odd book, the selection of artists seems quite random, the obvious and well known are mostly all here but with a few notable omissions - no Tracey Emin?! probably the most successful British female artist ever! As each artist only has 2 pages it feels superficial and unsatisfactory in many respects, but it’s a good starting point and I have already begun reading up on a few whom I had not heard of which has been very rewarding - Suzanne Valadon, Marie Bashkirtseff, Sophie Calle, Carrie Mae Weems and Annette Messager to name but a few. So I would recommend by virtue of the fact that reading this book will almost certainly introduce you to the work of artists you might not have encountered otherwise.
May 20, 2021
Mmh ... Comment noter un livre dont j'ai profondément été déçue mais qui a quand même le mérite d'apporter certaines clé de compréhension pour un public non initié aux arts ?
Je m'attendais à un livre foisonnant d'informations sur les femmes artistes de toute époque, et je me retrouve avec seulement une double page d'infos très succinctes et à peine de quoi les illustrer. Je pense très sincèrement que cet ouvrage peut correspondre à quelqu'un.e qui souhaite vraiment découvrir de nouvelles artistes. En revanche, il ne deviendra pas un de mes ouvrages de référence en terme de recherches. De plus, si peu d'artistes avant le 19e siècle. Evidemment, le choix des artistes revient certainement à l'autrice et c'est complètement okay, mais je trouve que ça manque cruellement de diversité chronologique.
Je m'attendais à un livre foisonnant d'informations sur les femmes artistes de toute époque, et je me retrouve avec seulement une double page d'infos très succinctes et à peine de quoi les illustrer. Je pense très sincèrement que cet ouvrage peut correspondre à quelqu'un.e qui souhaite vraiment découvrir de nouvelles artistes. En revanche, il ne deviendra pas un de mes ouvrages de référence en terme de recherches. De plus, si peu d'artistes avant le 19e siècle. Evidemment, le choix des artistes revient certainement à l'autrice et c'est complètement okay, mais je trouve que ça manque cruellement de diversité chronologique.
February 17, 2020
2,5/5. D’autres l’ont dit et je réitère : ce livre est malheureusement trop superficiel ! Je pense qu’il aurait été plus abouti et sérieux si l’autrice n’avait pas choisi de montrer autant de portraits de femmes artistes et si les biographies avaient été plus longues ainsi que le travail de ces femmes plus analysé. J’ai bien aimé justement le fait que certaines peintures soit représentées et décrites – bien que vers la fin certaines peintures/œuvres ne sont même pas expliquées – mais le livre aurait mérité plus de profondeur, un petit quelque chose qui m’aurait fait vibrer. C’est un bon début pour s’intéresser à ces femmes cependant.
January 26, 2022
3.5*
C'est un chouette livre cadeau, référençant de nombreuses femmes artistes présentées par ordre chronologique. C'est sympa de voir que certains noms deviennent de plus en plus connus et familiers, ainsi que de découvrir quelques noms de la génération actuelle.
En terme de défauts, je pense que le livre n'a pas assez réduit sa palette de choix d'artistes (peintres, sculptrices, vidéo artistes, photographes...) ce qui fait que de nombreux oublis ont très certainement été faits... Ou encore que le livre n'est qu'un avant goût.
Bon et le titre n'a pas vraiment de rapport avec l'intérieur.
C'est un chouette livre cadeau, référençant de nombreuses femmes artistes présentées par ordre chronologique. C'est sympa de voir que certains noms deviennent de plus en plus connus et familiers, ainsi que de découvrir quelques noms de la génération actuelle.
En terme de défauts, je pense que le livre n'a pas assez réduit sa palette de choix d'artistes (peintres, sculptrices, vidéo artistes, photographes...) ce qui fait que de nombreux oublis ont très certainement été faits... Ou encore que le livre n'est qu'un avant goût.
Bon et le titre n'a pas vraiment de rapport avec l'intérieur.
September 4, 2022
Malgré le fait que ce livre soit destiné au grand public (texte de vulgarisation plutôt que texte scientifique), il remplit bien sa fonction de faire connaître des artistes femmes avec ses petites biographies et permet ainsi d'allumer notre curiosité afin de faire de la recherche approfondie par la suite. Je suis un peu déçue, car je m'attendais à un ouvrage plus dense en théorie, mais le texte d'introduction est excellent et explique bien les circonstances historiques qui on fait la rareté des artistes femmes en occident.
June 6, 2025
The introductory essay in this book I found a little dry and boring, but the real strength is the bios of the women featured, and the examples of their artwork. It's amazing how many women, it they were involved romantically with a male artist, found themselves over shadowed by them. It comes up so many times. There were a lot of artists I'd never heard of before doing some really fascinating work. Toyen and Paula Rego are two that particularly stood out, but I found each entry interesting. A good introduction to the topic, and a jumping off point to further research.
July 17, 2020
Acheté après avoir visité une exposition d'oeuvres de Frida Kahlo, et pour compléter ma collection. Bien, mais l'introduction est trop pompeuse à mon goût. Aussi, les sections sur des artistes modernes (encore en vie) sont plus décevantes, uniquement centrées sur l'art. Je comprends, mais c'est moins engageant pour le lecteur, surtout si ce type d'art nous touche moins. IL y a tout de même plusieurs artistes non-occidentales et c'est bien.
May 19, 2021
At the time I put this on my TBR list I figured that it had to be interesting but, on the whole, this had a very throwaway quality to it. I'm not even sure that the introductory essay really answered the rhetorical challenge of the title! This feels very much like the sort of book that winds up on the remainder table very soon after publication. Still, I did learn something about a fair number of artists who I had never previously heard of.
March 19, 2021
I really enjoyed this, and wish it was a bit longer.
It has nice full size examples of work and one page bios for each artist arranged by the date they were born.
I knew many of them, and was delighted to see so many current artists represented.
I'll be looking for more information and examples of many of their works.
Now I have even more to share with my students
It has nice full size examples of work and one page bios for each artist arranged by the date they were born.
I knew many of them, and was delighted to see so many current artists represented.
I'll be looking for more information and examples of many of their works.
Now I have even more to share with my students
November 13, 2022
J'aurais aimé avoir des descriptions plus longues de chaque artiste, mais je crois que le livre remplit tout de même bien son rôle de nous faire connaître des artistes par un résumé de leurs histoires et leurs oeuvres. Elles ont toutes définitivement piqué ma curiosité et ce livre m'a poussé à faire mes propres recherches plus approfondies.
February 2, 2021
Très bien écrit. Belle panoplie d'artistes femmes.
March 30, 2021
Very basic intro to a sampling of women artists.
June 7, 2023
Hyper intéressant, mais (trop) synthétique.
May 20, 2025
Really enjoyed seeing artwork by so many female artists that I had never heard of before.
January 27, 2023
—do women have to be naked to get into the met. museum? less than 5% of the artists in the modern art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female. (guerilla girls, 1989)
a very necessary spotlight on women artists but also quite cursory and limited in its scope
a very necessary spotlight on women artists but also quite cursory and limited in its scope
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews