Neglected no more: Bold books for Women’s History Month

Linda Nochlin’s landmark 1971 essay ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’ heralded the dawn of a feminist history of art, unravelling basic assumptions that centred a white male artistic ‘genius’. Fifty years on, Nochlin’s message remains as urgent as ever. The standalone anniversary edition of Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? is published alongside its reappraisal ‘Thirty Years After’.

Making it Modern, an illustrated collection of essays, brings together for the first time some of the pioneering art historian Linda Nochlin’s most important writings on modernism and modernity from across her six-decade career.

The Militant Muse is an elegantly written exploration of the intense, complex and far-reaching female friendships among the surrealists, documenting what it meant to be young, ambitious and female in the context of an avant-garde movement defined by celebrated men.

Whitney Chadwick’s groundbreaking study Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement is available now in paperback. This pioneering book stands as the most comprehensive treatment of the lives, ideas, and art works of the remarkable group of women who were an essential part of the Surrealist movement, including Leonora Carrington, Léonor Fini, Frida Kahlo and Dorothea Tanning.

Whitney Chadwick’s Women, Art, and Society, one of the bestselling World of Art titles, is updated for our urgent cultural moment. This acclaimed survey re-examines the work of women artists since the Middle Ages.

Seeing Ourselves is a richly diverse exploration of female artists and self-portraits. Spanning centuries, and featuring works by the likes of Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman and Marlene Dumas, this book is brimming with inspiration and originality.

Voyaging Out tells the story of modern British art history through the stories of its women. Author Carolyn Trant fills in gaps in traditional art histories, exploring the lives and works of a rich network of neglected women artists.

Women in Abstraction is an exploration of the fundamental role played by women in the development of abstract art. By focusing on the careers of artists often unjustly eclipsed, the book questions the established canons and offers an alternative history of abstraction, from the symbolist abstraction of Hilma Af Klint, to the sensual abstraction of Huguette Caland.

Focusing on fifty diverse women artists, from Lavinia Fontana and Artemisia Gentileschi through Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta and the Guerrilla Girls, Women Artists (Art Essentials) equips the reader with an understanding of the history of art by women, as well as an appreciation of its most outstanding figures.

One of the founding forces behind the 1970s feminist art movement, Judy Chicago became widely known for The Dinner Party, a massive installation turning women’s traditional household-bound role on its head by setting a feast for thirty-nine remarkable women. Judy Chicago: In the Making offers a thorough overview of Chicago’s career, tracing the artist’s practice back to its roots.

Barbara Hepworth is now acknowledged as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Combining Hepworth’s public statements with her private correspondences, Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life is a fascinating biography that offers a penetrating insight into the life, work and legacy of this singular artist.

Androgyne: Fashion and Gender is the first visually led exploration of androgyny, drawing on the worlds of art and literature to give a deeper understanding of the timeless human drive to break free from defined categories.