"The catalogue of an exhibition which takes a fresh look at a group af famously beautiful women to see them, for once, in their own right—not merely as wives or lovers but as models, artists, craftspeople, and agents in their own destinies. I would so love to have seen this show myself, but . . . . In particular, I have been fascinated by the life and career of Jane Morris as 'supermodel' for many years, and the cover image is my #1 favorite painting in the world."
Publisher National Portrait Gallery
Publication Date 2019-11-19
Section Art / All Staff Suggestions / Nonfiction Suggestions / Alan H.
Format Hardcover
ISBN 9781855147270
Overlooked stories of the female painters and subjects of Pre-Raphaelite art
When the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood exhibited their first works in 1849 it heralded a revolution in British art. Styling themselves the “Young Painters of England,” this group of young men aimed to overturn stale Victorian artistic conventions and challenge the previous generation with their startling colors and compositions.
Think of the images created by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others in their circle, however, and it is not men but pale-faced young women with lustrous, tumbling locks that spring to mind, gazing soulfully from the picture frame or in dramatic scenes painted in glowing colors.
Who were these women? What is known of their lives and their roles in a movement that spanned over half a century? Some were models, plucked from obscurity to pose for figures in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, while others were sisters, wives, daughters and friends of the artists. Several were artists themselves, with aspirations to match those of the men, sharing the same artistic and social networks yet condemned by their gender to occupy a separate sphere. Others inhabited and sustained a male-dominated art world as partners in production, maintaining households and studios and socializing with patrons. Some were skilled in the arts of interior decoration, dressmaking, embroidery, jewelry-making―the fine crafts that formed a supportive tier for the “higher” arts of painting and sculpture. Although their backgrounds and life experiences certainly varied widely, all were engaged in creating Pre-Raphaelite art.
Containing over 100 beautifully reproduced images, Pre-Raphaelite Sisters illustrates the obscure stories of some of the movement’s most familiar faces.
