THE MIRROR AND THE PALETTE: REBELLION, REVOLUTION AND RESILIENCE: 500 YEARS OF WOMEN'S SELF-PORTRAIT: Rebellion, Revolution and Resilience: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits

A helter-skelter look at the contribution and changing influence of women in art – 4 StarsSpanning around five-hundred years of art history, this book provides a great introduction to the role of women in art. Don’t expect a neat chronological order though; author, Jennifer Higgie, will have you dapping around from one century to the next with the flip of a page, and locations are given the same treatment too.Presented as a series of themes rather than following the usual paths of timeline or art movement gives ‘The Mirror and the Palette’ a unique style and edginess. Not only is this book informative, but it’s a lot of fun to read. The writing style is unmistakably gossipy, and there is plenty of material about the artists personal lives to help put their work and struggle for recognition in context. Side-lined from the history books for centuries, and often dismissed as mere hobbyists, Higgie does a great job of showing not only their contribution to art history but just how hard they fought for their place within it.This is a book I very much enjoyed, but although it is fully referenced at the back of the book, to make research easier, I would have liked some indication of these within the main body of the text too. Plus, for an arts book, I found it quite sparsely illustrated.Overall: The unusual choice of presentation and writing-style ensures this is a lot of fun to read as well as being informative.

I found the writing fluent and there was some info new to me.Mostly artists I know of and illustrations are limited. The author writes about more than self portraits and the context and issues.Frances Borzello’s previous book about this is acknowledged.A good introduction but limited scope to western developed countries and no contemporary living artists.

A fascinating exploration of the subjects women paint, when what they might paint is limited by opportunity or convention. Jennifer Higgie winds her narrative through the lives of some fascinating female artists across 500 years. Elegantly written and informative.

Interesting and much needed. Brilliant writer.

This book is just phenomenal and incredibly useful for an essay i am writing. Such an important subject within the art and am so enjoy learning with this introduction.