Dress and Easel: Stories of Old-Time Women Painters

Great women artists existed. Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentilleschi, and Angelika Kauffmann achieved spectacular success in their times. They created outstanding works, painting for kings and the upper classes. Other painters—such as the Polish artist Agnieszka Piotrkowczyk—left behind individual works or merely a trace in archives. To patriarchal art history, all were equally invisible. Piotr Oczko, author of the bestselling "Postcards from Mokum," unearths the herstories of past women artists from the shadows. He writes about the obstacles they had to overcome on their way to the pinnacle of painting, about being overwhelmed by domestic responsibilities and sexual violence. He closely examines their self-portraits—searching in the gazes of the masters for their anxieties, ambitions, and well-deserved pride in their work. He teaches how to read past painting and shows how it illuminates our lives as well. Nearly 250 illustrations—over 50 female artists