Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Garb, an art historian specializing in women's studies, here examines the lives and work of late 19th century artists Marie Bracquemond, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzales and Berthe Morisot. She places the artists into the context of their times, highlighting their family and social histories, their educational backgrounds, their circles of friends and colleagues and the limitations imposed on each by being female. Illustrated by 32 excellent color plates and several black-and-white reproductions, the paintings are analyzed both from a formal viewpointconsidering light quality, color, form and compositionand from an historical one. The author has compiled an informative, well-written guide that avoids the ghettoized feel of somebooks devoted only to female artists.(November) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

An introduction that emphasizes the antifeminist attitudes against which women painters in the late nineteenth century labored precedes 32 color reproductions of works by four women who were members of the circle of mostly male artists that became famous as the impressionists. Best known of the four is the American expatriate Mary Cassatt; the least familiar is Marie Braquemond, whose artist-husband jealously forced her to give up painting. The other two are Berthe Morisot, who inspired Manet as much as he did her, and Eva Gonzales, another Manet student, who died young and whose work seems less polished than that of the others. Cassatt and Morisot are well represented in other books, but Braquemond may be an electrifying discovery for many art lovers and reason enough to add this well-produced, 10-by-11-inch paperback to most art libraries. Garb provides a generous historical and critical note to each colorplate and a list of books for further reading; no index. RO. 759.054 Impressionism (Art) / Women painters / Painting, Modern 19th century [OCLC] 86-42733