Catherine McCormack

From equality to climate change, civil rights and war, art has been used to affect change, bring awareness and create visibility for centuries, and these are the women who fought to get their voices heard. Fully illustrated with 70 artworks from 50 art heroines, this book showcases the most famous examples of women's art activism and uncovers the hidden stories behind some of our lesser-known protest art. Covering a range of mediums and causes, this book discusses the women who used art to fight causes from suffrage to social media, looking at how they made their art, why their work is so important, and the impact they continue to have on the world. Features work by Kathe Kollwitz, Claude Cahun, Barbara Kruger, Guerrilla Girls, Ana Mendieta, Nan Goldin, Judy Chicago, Paula Rego, Shirin Neshat, Laia Abril, Linder and Yayoi Kusama.

'Incisive and provocative ... a sensitive and probing critique' The New York Times'Essential reading ... gripping, inspirational, beautifully written and highly thought-provoking' Dr Helen Gørrill, author of Women Can't PaintA bold reconsideration of women in art - from the 'Old Masters' to the posts of Instagram influencersA perfect pin-up, a damsel in distress, a saintly mother, a femme fatale ... Women's identity has long been stifled by a limited set of archetypes, found everywhere in pictures from art history's classics to advertising, while women artists have been overlooked and held back from shaping more empowering roles. In this impassioned book, art historian Catherine McCormack asks us to look again at what these images have told us to value, opening up our most loved images - from those of Titian and Botticelli to Picasso and the Pre-Raphaelites. She also shows us how women artists - from Berthe Morisot to Beyoncé, Judy Chicago to Kara Walker - have offered us new ways of thinking about women's identity, sexuality, race and power. Women in the Picture gives us new ways of seeing the art of the past and the familiar images of today so that we might free women from these restrictive roles and embrace the breadth of women's vision.'A call to arms in a world where the misogyny that taints much of the western art canon is still largely ignored' Financial Times'It felt like the scales were falling from my eyes as I read it.' The Herald

Venus, maiden, wife, mother, monster--women have been bound so long by these restrictive roles, codified by patriarchal culture, that we scarcely see them. Catherine McCormack illuminates the assumptions behind these stereotypes whether writ large or subtly hidden. She ranges through Western art--think Titian, Botticelli, and Millais--and the image-saturated world of fashion photographs, advertisements, and social media, and boldly counters these depictions by turning to the work of women artists like Morisot, Ringgold, Lacy, and Walker, who offer alternative images for exploring women's identity, sexuality, race, and power in more complex ways.