Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A re-presentation of women artists whose works were widely exhibited and regularly featured in the French art press and in modern art surveys from 1900 to the 1920s, but who largely disappeared from public view after World War II. The analysis of their work unravels the cultural, aesthetic, and economic reasons for their absence, particularly the issue of "feminine" and "masculine" categories in art. The artists featured include: Emilie Charmy, Jacqueline Marval, Maria Blanchard, Alice Halicka, Marevna, Alice Bailly, Marie Vassiliev, Suzanne Roger, and Mela Muter. The text includes fine color reproductions, bibliographic appendices, and an excerpt from Marevna's writings. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Perhaps the strongest criticism of this book should be for its brevity. Perry (art history, Open University) organizes the text around little-known Emilie Charmy, whose career coincides with Fauvism and Cubism. But the work of Charmy (and Maria Blanchard, Jacqueline Marval, Alice Halicka, Marevna) exists in a "fragile space" outside of what are now considered "major" art movements. The space was fragile, says Perry, because these artists did not fit male critics' accepted interpretation of "feminine" art. The works of better-known artists Marie Laurencin and Suzanne Valadon are discussed in counterpoint: their nonthreatening approach explains their inclusion in art historical survey texts. The role of Berthe Weill, an art dealer whose writings provide persuasive documentation of Perry's ideas, is examined for her promotion of now-marginalized artists and for her "navigation" of a masculine terrain. The text would be stronger if other artists were given as rich treatment as Charmy receives, although the arguments are convincing and ideas of feminist art historical predecessors (i.e., Griselda Pollack) are tempered with considerable reason. General; upper-division undergraduate; graduate; faculty. E. K. Menon Mankato State University