Women Artists: An Illustrated History

by Nancy G. Heller

Overview

Firmly established as one of the premier histories of women in the fine arts, Nancy G. Heller's Women Artists returns in an expanded fourth edition.

With coverage of the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium, nearly half the volume is now devoted to the remarkable period from 1960 to the present, when women artists emerged as the most dynamic force in contemporary art. New to this edition are innovative contemporary American artists, such as Janine Antoni and Renee Cox, as well as major international figures, including Iran's Shirin Neshat, Shahzia Sikander from Pakistan, and the Icelandic sculptor and performance artist Katrin Sigurdardottir. As in past editions, all the artists' works are represented in large-format color reproductions, and the artists' careers are examined in concise critical biographies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789207685
Publisher:	Abbeville Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/2003
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	300
Sales rank:	1,086,772
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Nancy G. Heller is a Professor of Art History at The University of the Arts. She has also taught at several other colleges, including the University of Maryland, Texas A & M, and Georgetown University. Her most recent books are the fourth revised-and-expanded edition of Women Artists: An Illustrated History (Abbeville Press) and Why a Painting is Like a Pizza: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art (Princeton University Press). She also co-wrote and co-edited Imaging Dance: Visual Representations of Dancers and Dancing (Georg Olms Verlag) and contributed a chapter to Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical, and Theoretical Perspectives (McFarland).

In addition to giving guest lectures for numerous museums, clubs, universities, and other venues, Heller has presented scholarly papers at art and dance-history conferences across the U.S. and also in Lisbon, London, Seville, Rome, and Cluj (Romania). Dr. Heller has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Association of University Women, the Richard C. von Hess Foundation, and the government of Spain. Since 1984 she has been a student, teacher, teacher, and performer of Spanish dance, and a writer/lecturer on related subjects.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. The Renaissance
2. The Seventeenth Century
3. The Eighteenth Century
4. The Nineteenth Century
5. The Early Twentieth Century
6. Mid-Century to the Mid-1980s
7. The Late 1980s to the 1990s
8. The New Century
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index

Editorial Reviews

"An attractive, even tempered survey of American and European women artists from the Renaissance to the present."

|Los Angeles Times

"The last twenty years of scholarship have brought many forgotten women artists to attention, but too often their presentation has been marred by anachronistic feminist rhetoric. Nancy G. Heller's lucid, evenhanded Women Artists is a noteworthy exception."

The Washington Post

Praise for: Women Artists

"The last 20 years of scholarship have brought many forgotten women artists to attention, but too often their presentation has been marred by anachronistic feminist rhetoric. Nancy G. Hellers lucid, evenhanded Women Artists is a noteworthy exception." — The Washington Post

"Anyone just now waking up to the fact that women have been missing from written art history would do well to begin with this attractive, even-tempered survey of American and European women artists from the Renaissance to the present." — Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

An "attractive, even tempered survey of American and European women artists from the Renaissance to the present."

Los Angeles Times

The last 20 years of scholarship have brought many forgotten women artists to attention, but too often their presentation has been marred by anachronistic feminist rhetoric. Nancy G. Heller's lucid, evenhanded Women Artists is a noteworthy exception.
— Washington Post

Camille Paglia

This edition scans the oft-neglected contributions of women to Western art since the Renaissance and includes a new chapter on the 1980s featuring Laurie Anderson, Rebecca Horn, Rocio Maldonado and others. PW said of the hardcover, ``Engrossing . . . among the histories of women artists currently available, this one stands out for its unsurpassed color reproductions.'' (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Written in a straightforward style, this survey of women artists from the Renaissance to the present is accessible to readers with knowledge of art history. The text consists of brief biographical sketches and accounts of the careers of 125 women artists. The personal and professional obstacles faced by these women are a unifying theme. One or occasionally two works by each artist are illustrated by good color photographs. Although the presentations are short and often superficial, this book can serve as a reference or an introduction to the work of major women artists. Suitable for high school students and general readers. Kathryn W. Finkelstein, M.L.S., Cincinnati

Library Journal

YA None of the three major surveys of art history (Jansen, Gardner, Hartt) pays adequate attention to women artists of note. Heller's book is a successful attempt to begin to remedy this gap in basic information available to lay readers about women painters and sculptors since the Renaissance. Organized in six chapters by century, the survey provides brief biographical information, some critical analysis and context, and at least one color plate of the work of 125 women artists who lived and worked in Europe or North America between the 16th Century and the 1980s. Although the prose suffers from the problems inherent in a survey texttoo much information too quickly presentedthat problem is also a strength of the volume. Readers will be fascinated to discover these relatively obscure but competent or great artists who remained unknown because they were women. The book is well designed, a pleasure to hold and read, and an excellent resource for students interested in expanding their understanding of art history. Dorcas Hand, Episcopal High School, Bellaire

School Library Journal