Art Lovers discussion

Pre Raphaelite Women Images of Femininity
by Jan Marsh
http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/2...

Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women
by David Alan Brown
http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/1...

Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keefe
by Laurie Lisle
http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/1...

Berthe Morisot, the Correspondence With Her Family and Friends: Manet, Puvis De Chavannes, Degas, Monet, Renoir, and Mallarme
by Berthe Morisot
http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/1...

Camille Claudel: A Life
by Odile Ayral-Clause
http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/4...

Artemisia: A Novel by Alexandra Lapierre

http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/1...

Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity
by Mary D. Garrard

http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/1...

Thank you, Harley!

"Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keefe
by Laurie Lisle


I bought this book when it came out in 1980 and now 30 years later I finally read it. Originally I purchased it because I knew she was a part of Stieglitz life and because I was a photography major I loved his work. I thought that she was just a lucky person to have Stieglitz promote her work and that was why she was successful. After reading the book, I have a new appreciation for her as an artist but found her personality irritating (as many did). She was born in 1887, the year the woman's right to vote was defeated. Yet she was raised to be an independent woman and she did so, at a time when women were second class citizens. She lived her life to the fullest and was completely devoted to her art. She was a unique individual and seeing how she progressed "artistically" was enlightening.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard: Artist in the Age of Revolution


A very thorough, nicely written, and beautifully illustrated account of the 18th-century French portraitist Labille-Guiard, one of the very few women ever admitted to the French Royal Academy. She had a fairly successful career before the Revolution and then transformed herself into a "Republican" artist after the Revolution. The book, which is published by the Getty, is especially good at capturing the flavor of the period. I should mention that I know the author very well...

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland.

This may sound like a strange book to mention in this context, but "Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography" by Gail Levin is in many ways better at capturing the life and personality of Hopper's wife, Jo, than of cantankerous Edward himself. Jo was an artist in her own right, and a pretty good one, too, with a style completely different from her husband's. Worth a look.

Dvora wrote: "The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland."

Susan Vreeland is coming to an art museum near me on March 24th for a 2 hour discussion on her book Life Studies. If you have you read that book, would you recommend it?

book: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Studies-St...

museum: http://www.nbmaa.org/index.php?option...

No, I haven't read Life Studies. I have read The Passion of Artemisia, and thought it was excellent, much better, in fact, than Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus that was also about a woman artist in Italy at about the same time. Vreeland really conveyed the drive and passion of Artemisia whereas Dunant didn't for her artist. I've already read Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party and loved it. It's about Renoir's painting of that name. Vreeland knows a lot about art and writes well and if I could go to hear her talk I would!

I read Life Studies which was decent. I liked The Forest Lover MUCH better

was fun to see the juxtaposition or Realism to Impressionism during the same period of time.
If you like historical fiction with an art twist Irving Stone is always fun.

Thanks for the suggestion! I HAVE to add that to my list. I just love Irving Stone!

Heather wrote: " was fun to see the juxtaposition or Realism to Impressionism during the same period of time.
If..."
One of the books my daughter just gave me for my birthday!

The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism

It's pretty good so far. First Meissonier, regarded by contemporaries as the artistic giant of his age, the insane effort he put into his history painting of Napoleon, the Salon, and, now Manet, the new kid, is painting this outdoor thing with two dressed men and two nekkid women (oh my). I expect a conflict is going to emerge. :)

Here's an interesting review of group of books from NYRB about Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. I like O's work well enough but it's never really moved me, and conversely, I've always found S's photos very evocative and wondrously mysterious, but this review makes O. sound like the far more fascinating figure, both personally and artistically. Her letters to him are much more vivid and stimulating that his to her (see cover link below).

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives

Interesting book I read recently on an extremely temperamental female modern artist: Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter. (Joan liked to use the term "lady painter" ironically.)

Great trivia question. The only famous artist to ever have a rating from the American Figure Skating association, as far as I know. (Did individuals and pairs on a national level, never came in first.)