For centuries, the art world was a male preserve. Exceptionally talented and ambitious women became successful artists, only to be written out of the history of Western art. But how have women really seen themselves? What can self-portraits tell us about the way women have lived and worked? This book examines the subject, revealing a vibrant, colourful but largely overlooked genre. The two earliest self-portraits come from 12th-century manuscripts in which nuns gaze at us across eight centuries. In 1630 Artemisia Gentileschi depicted herself powerfully as the very personification of painting. From Adelaide Labille-Guiard to Angelica Kauffmann, in the 18th century, women signalled in their different ways ambition, femininity and the artist's calling. In this century, growing freedom and awareness have allowed for an increasingly intimate self-scrutiny, in the work of such artists as Gwen John and Paula Modersohn-Becker. Frida Kahlo's "The Broken Column" of 1944, shows her confined by the steel that supports her damaged spine. Sarah Lucas portrays herself as a tough, masculine outsider in photographs such as "Self Portrait with Fish". And when Cindy Sherman explores identity by transforming herself, she poses the questions that all the women in this book have faced when they "see" themselves - and help all of us to see ourselves too.

Seeing Ourselves : Women's Self-Portraits

Borzello, Frances

Arts & Photography

Thames&Hudson

Women have always practised as artists, but for centuries the male establishment considered them mere dilettantes. Their work was derided as inconsequential and second rate and they were considered intruders in a male profession. This study examines how they overcame these difficulties and turns the focus away from women artists as "victims" to give an account of how they actually practised their art. The book looks at how women faced up to the exclusionary tactics of the art establishment and accepted the standards of their chosen profession. Beginning with Sofonisba Anguissola and Properzia de' Rossi in the Renaissance, and culminating with the work of artists including Cindy Sherman and Mona Hatoum, this text reconstructs the changing world of the female artist, tracing its development through the centuries as artistic and social attitudes evolved.

A World Of Our Own Women As Artists /anglais

Paintings by more than 100 artists from the past four centuries celebrate the home and domestic life. No genre in the history of art has such immediate, and such lasting, popular appeal as the domestic interior, shown here in more than 150 paintings. And yet behind these evocative scenes lies an important reassessment. The domestic interior has had a hidden life in the history of art, and Frances Borzello, in a delightfully written text, shows why it has misleadingly been neglected as a category in art. The story starts with the interiors of the Dutch artists of the seventeenth century and takes in a long period in which the interior was frowned upon or ignored by the rules of artistic propriety. During the nineteenth century social and economic change encouraged new concentration on depicting the home environment, culminating in the interior's greatest golden age in the late nineteenth century. The evolution of the genre in our own time challenges conventional wisdom that domesticity was the enemy of the avant-garde. The book includes reproductions of ravishing works by more than 100 artists, from Maes and Vermeer to Sargent, Bonnard, and Cassatt to Hopper and Tanning. 160 color illustrations.

At Home: The Domestic Interior in Art

Architecture

Nudes that deliberately behave provocatively and pose awkward questions: how artists portray the body in contemporary art The representation of the nude in art remained for many centuries a victory of fiction over fact. Beautiful, handsome, flawless, its great success was to distance the unclothed body from any uncomfortably explicit taint of sexuality, eroticism, or imperfection. Here Frances Borzello contrasts the civilized, perfected artistic nude of Kenneth Clark’s classic, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956), with today’s depictions: raw, uncomfortable, disturbing. Grittier and more subtle, the new nude―both male and female ―confronts us with the hidden issues and contradictions of the body and our relationship to it. Borzello’s story of the nude begins with a tale of life, death, and resurrection, exploring how and why the nude has survived and flourished in an art world that prematurely announced its demise. Subsequent chapters take a thematic approach, exploring the nude in painting, portraiture, sculpture, performance, and body art; in the work of female artists; and in extreme and graphic expressions that intentionally push the boundaries of both art and our comfort zone. 130 illustrations, 116 in color

The Naked Nude

Reference

The first chronicle of the whole story of female self portraiture through the centuries―a key work in the study of women’s art For centuries, women’s self-portraiture was a highly overlooked genre. Beginning with the self-portraits of nuns in medieval illuminated manuscripts, Seeing Ourselves finally gives this richly diverse range of artists and portraits, spanning centuries, the critical analysis they deserve. In sixteenth-century Italy, Sofonisba Anguissola paints one of the longest series of self-portraits, from adolescence to old age. In seventeenth-century Holland, Judith Leyster shows herself at the easel as a relaxed, self-assured professional. In the eighteenth century, from Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun to Angelica Kauffman, artists express both passion for their craft and the idea of femininity; and the nineteenth century sees the art schools open their doors to women and a new and resonant self-confidence for a host of talented female artists, such as Berthe Morisot. The modern period demolishes taboos: Alice Neel painting herself nude at eighty years old, Frida Kahlo rendering physical pain on the canvas, Cindy Sherman exploring identity, and Marlene Dumas dispensing with all boundaries. Frances Borzello’s spirited text, now fully revised, and the intensity of the accompanying self-portraits are set off to full advantage in this new edition, now in reading-book format. 180 illustrations, 130 in color

Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits

History & Criticism

This richly diverse exploration of female artists and self-portraits is a brilliant and poignant demonstration of originality in works of haunting variety. The two earliest self-portraits come from 12th-century illuminated manuscripts in which nuns gaze at us across eight centuries. In 16th-century Italy, Sofonisba Anguissola paints one of the longest series of self-portraits, spanning adolescence to old age. In 17th-century Holland, Judith Leyster shows herself at the easel as a relaxed, self-assured professional. In the 18th century, artists from Elisabeth Vige-Lebrun to Angelica Kauffman express both passion for their craft and the idea of femininity; and in the 19th the salons and art schools at last open their doors to a host of talented women artists, including Berthe Morisot, ushering in a new and resonant self-confidence. The modern period demolishes taboos: Alice Neel painting herself nude at eighty, Frida Kahlo rendering physical pain, Cindy Sherman exploring identity, Marlene Dumas dispensing with all boundaries. The full verve of Frances Borzellos enthralling text, and the hypnotic intensity of the accompanying self-portraits, is revealed to the full in this inspiring book.Table of Contents1. In the Beginning: The Sixteenth Century 2. The New Self-Confidence: The Seventeenth Century 3. Professionals and Amateurs: The Eighteenth Century 4. The Opening Door: The Nineteenth Century 5. Breaking Taboos: The Twentieth Century 6. Feminism and After: Towards the Contemporary

The Naked Nude (Paperback) /anglais

Other Media

A new edition of one of thefirst books to focus on theworld of women artists andtheir practice. Women have always practiced as artists, but for centuries the art world considered them mere dilettantes. Their work was derided as second-rate, and they were considered intruders in a male profession. This study examines how, against the odds, they overcame these difficulties and shifts the focus away from women artists as "victims" to give an account of how they actually practiced their art. This stirring account documents the centuries- long struggle of gifted women who confronted the exclusionary tactics of a male-dominated art establishment but pressed ahead undaunted to gain acceptance as sought-after professionals. Art historian Frances Borzello takes readers deep into the restricted world of women artists of the past, showing how diligently they trained themselves, set up studios, and pursued sympathetic patrons. Starting with Renaissance painters Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, the book reconstructs the changing world of women artists as social attitudes evolved. Seventeenth-century painters Artemisia Gentileschi and Judith Leyster enjoyed success by depicting subjects relevant to women, as did eighteenth- century greats Angelica Kauffman and Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun with lucrative commissions. Further breakthroughs came in the nineteenth century as young hopefuls Mary Cassatt and Marie Bashkirtseff strove to be admitted to exhibiting societies and opened art schools. Finally, as equality for women advanced through the twentieth century, Augusta Savage, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, Mona Hatoum, and others led the way for today's talented women to secure their rightful place in the annals of art. Now fully revised and updated, Frances Borzello's engaging narrative continues to inspire.

A World of Our Own: Women Artists Against the Odds

'To admit to writing about artists' models is to set off an avalanche of interest. ''Didn't Rossetti marry his model?'' ''didn't Augustus John sleep with all of his?'' At first I brushed such questions aside as frivolous. Instead of revealing the facts about modelling in England from the foundation of the Royal Academy to the present day, the gossip column approach to art history seemed to veil them. But as research revealed the mundane business of a model's life, I had second thoughts about my high-minded approach. I became fascinate by the way that contrary to the facts that were emerging, the majority of model anecdotes shared a common obsession - sex - and a common assumption - that models are female. I started to wonder to wonder how posing for artists, a tiring, tedious and lowly-paid profession practised by both sexes and all ages, could have become so fascinating to the public mind and also so distorted.'This is how Frances Borzello's unusual and revisionist book begins. Myth and reality are far apart. It is quite wrong to suppose models were always women, always naked and always promiscuous. Male models were just as much in demand for painters of History, Mythology and Genre, in which both sexes might require to be clothed in some particular manner. There are ten chapters: Fact and Fantasy, The Rise and Fall of the Professional Model, The Heyday of the Professional Model, The Model's Status, Bohemia, The Stereotype, High and Low Writing, The Propagation of Myth, The Model in Fiction, The Model in Art: and in them the author, with great originality, covers all aspects of this much misunderstood activity.'The first chapter of Frances Borzello's book, The Artist's Model, is entitled Fact and Fantasy. The facts are dull. Modelling is a boring, tiring, badly paid profession. Yet out of them we have created an image of a woman dressed only for seduction who probably sleeps with the artist, cooks for him, and inspires his best work. Rossetti has his beloved Lizzie Siddall, Whistler had his Maud, Augustus John . . . well Augustus had whoever he could, wnenever he could.' Waldemar Januszczak, Guardian

The Artist's Model

Drawing

Faber and Faber

Looks at the ways women artists have chosen to picture themselves throughout history

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Harry N. Abrams

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Borzello, Frances. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Borzello, Frances

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Borzello, Frances. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Seeing Ourselves : Women's Self-Portraits

A World Of Our Own Women As Artists /anglais

At Home: The Domestic Interior in Art

The Naked Nude

Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits

Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits

The Naked Nude (Paperback) /anglais

A World of Our Own: Women Artists Against the Odds

The Artist's Model

Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits