The Mirror and the Palette : Rebellion, Revolution and Resilience: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits

'A bewitching, invigorating history of women artists, the work they've made and the impossibly hard conditions in which it was produced' OLIVIA LAING 'Brilliant . . . reveals an until-now hidden history of women's self-portraiture. A gift that keeps on giving' ALI SMITH, New Statesman 'An uplifting and dazzling tour through history . . . a breakout book that shifts the spotlight onto the names that the art world has painted over. It's illuminating and essential reading' Stylist

Until the twentieth century, art history was, in the main, written by white men who tended to write about other white men. The idea that women in the West have always made art was rarely cited as a possibility. Yet they have - and, of course, continue to do so - often against tremendous odds, from laws and religion to the pressures of family and public disapproval.

In THE MIRROR AND THE PALETTE, Jennifer Higgie introduces us to a cross-section of women artists who embody the fact that there is more than one way to understand our planet, more than one way to live in it and more than one way to make art about it. Spanning 500 years, biography and cultural history intertwine in a narrative packed with tales of rebellion, adventure, revolution, travel and tragedy enacted by women who turned their back on convention and lived lives of great resilience, creativity and bravery. This is a dazzlingly original and ambitious book by one of the most well-respected art critics at work today.