Description: This engaging cultural history examines the emergence of a professional identity for American women artists. By focusing on individual sculptors, painters, and illustrators, Prieto gives us a compelling picture of the prospects and constraints faced by women artists in the United States from the late eighteenth century through the 1930s.
Brief description: Laura R. Prieto is Assistant Professor of History and Women's Studies at Simmons College, Boston.
Review Quotes: Prieto reconstructs a substantial chronology for women artists in the US...Two tendencies that wax and wane over a century are traced: the drive to be an artist and the desire to be a woman, both providing a basis for professionalization...[Prieto] demonstrates an ability to read works of art, interweaving their visual narratives into the context of women's artistic development. Highly recommended.--E. K. Menon "Choice" (6/1/2002 12:00:00 AM)