Unlocking Women's Art

Who were the pioneering female painters and who are the best contemporary women painters around today? Highlighting artists from Gentileschi to Kahlo, art historianPL Henderson’s new book, Unlocking Women’s Art focuses onthe female pioneers, visionaries and radicals of the painting medium. On ajourney through Western art history and with references to diverse globalartists, the fascinating lives of female painters and their artworks arediscussed within their often challenging cultural contexts. In chapters which consideridentity, muses and models, the domestic space, the Avant-garde, in addition towar, peace and protest, the world of women who paint is intriguingly unlocked. Whydid early female artists ingeniously encode their self-portraits? How did natureas a theme open the doors to a forbidden professional realm? Which femalepainters shocked the art establishment with their daring portrayals of the nude? While these and many more interesting subjects are explored, in a similarformat to her successful book Unravelling Women’s Art, the author ends eachchapter with interviews of contemporary, global female painters, allowing absorbinginsights into their individual practices. Some of the contemporary artists interviewed include Shani Rhys James, Sungi Mlengeya and Sarah Maple.