One of the first female artists to achieve recognition in her own time, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) became instantly popular in the 1970s when feminist art historians "discovered" her and argued vehemently for a place for her in the canon of Italian baroque painters.
Her previous books include Quoting Caravaggio Contemporary Art, Prepos.
This book offers a fascinating glimpse into the critical frame of mind underlying this transformation."--Keith Christiansen, Jayne Wrightsman Curator of Italian Painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art About the Author: Mieke Bal is professor at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and cofounder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam. into a standard bearer of early feminist consciousness. . . "Over the last generation Artemisia has been transformed from a talented curiosity .
The fresh, engaging discourse in The Artemisia Files will help to both renew the reputation of this artist on the merit of her work and establish her rightful place in the history of art.
Considering the events that shaped her life and reputation--her relationship to her father and her role as the victim in a highly publicized rape case during which she was tortured into giving evidence--the authors make the case that Artemisia\'s importance is due to more than her role as a poster child in the feminist attack on traditional art history; here, Artemisia emerges more fully as a highly original artist whose work is greater than the sum of the events that have traditionally defined her.
In The Artemisia Files, Mieke Bal and her coauthors look squarely at this early icon of feminist art history and the question of her status as an artist.
Featured alongside her father, Orazio Gentileschi, in a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Artemisia has continued to stir interest though her position in the canon remains precarious, in part because her sensationalized life history has overshadowed her art.
One of the first female artists to achieve recognition in her own time, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) became instantly popular in the 1970s when feminist art historians "discovered" her and argued vehemently for a place for her in the canon of Italian baroque painters
