Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Female Bodies - Paperback

by Catherine McCormack (Author)

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.

Author Biography

Catherine McCormack is a writer, historian, independent curator, and author of The Art of Looking Up. She is the founder of the women and art study program at Sotheby's Institute of Art, where she teaches. She earned her PhD in art history from University College London. Her writing has appeared in the Independent and the Architectural Review. She lives in London.