On the Cover

Josephine N. Hopper
Forest Scene (1914-23)
oil on panel, 13 ⅞" x 10 ¼".
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Felicia Meyer Marsh Bequest.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE

By Elsa Honig Fine

ISSUES AND INSIGHTS

Josephine Nivison Hopper: Some Newly Discovered Works

By Elizabeth Thompson Colleary

The Graphic Art of Marguerite Thompson Zorach

By Efram L. Burk

Peggy Bacon and John Sloan: Their Urban Scenes, 1910-1928

By Sara F. Meng

Francesca Woodmanıs Self-Images: Transforming Bodies in the Space of Femininity

By Jui-Chıi Liu

The 17th-Century Spanish Vida: Producing Sanctity with Words and Images

By Mindy Nancarrow

REVIEWS

Manet and the Family Romance

by Nancy Locke

Manet Manette

by Carol M. Armstrong

Reviewed by Therese Dolan

The American Womanıs Home

by Catharine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, introduction by Nicole Tonkovich

Reviewed by Anna Novakov

The Allen Sisters: Pictorial Photographers 1885-1920

by Suzanne Flynt, foreword by Naomi Rosenblum

Reviewed by Tina Cohen

Helene Schjerfbeck: And Nobody Knows What Iım Like

by Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse

Reviewed by Frances Borzello

Challenging Tradition: Women of the Academy, 1826-2003

by David Dearinger and Isabelle Dervaux

Reviewed by Virginia Pitts Rembert

Painting Professionals: Women Artists and the Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930

by Kirsten Swinth

Reviewed by Pamela H. Simpson

Baroness Elsa: Gender, Dada, and Everyday Modernity‹A Cultural Biography

by Irene Gammel

Reviewed by Lynda Hoffman-Jeep

Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli

by Dilys E. Blum

Reviewed by Robin Rice

The Paintings of Joan Mitchell

edited by Jane Livingston

Reviewed by Joan Marter

Kara Walker Slavery Slavery!

essay by Robert Hobbs

Ellen Gallagher

essay by Thyrza Nichols Goodeve

Reviewed by Lisa E. Farrington

Judy Chicago

edited by Elizabeth A. Sackler

Personal & Political: The Womenıs Art Movement, 1969-1975

by Simon Taylor and Natalie Ng

Gloria: Another Look at Feminist Art of the 1970s

by Catherine Morris and Ingrid Schaffner

Reviewed by Cassandra Langer

One Point Perspective

With three articles on Saints Catherine and three authors named Catherine, we jokingly dubbed the Spring/Summer 1998 WAJ the "Catherine issue." With less justification, but for obvious reasons, we are calling this the "Elsa issue." I have been aware of the wickedly creative Elsas, von Freytag-Loringhoven and Schiaparelli, since adolescence, long before I could pronounce their last names, let alone spell them. Both are the subjects of books, by Irene Gammel, and by Dilys Blum, reviewed here by Lynda Hoffman-Jeep and Robin Rice, respectively. The former Elsa was referred to as the "mother of New York Dada"; the latter was the doyenne of Surrealist fashion. Although they had colleagues in common, neither Elsa is indexed in the otherıs book. Both were photographed by Man Ray and were closely associated with Duchamp and the Picabias.

At the press luncheon for the Schiaparelli exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Blumıs book served as a catalogue for the exhibit)I was asked if I thought an art museum was an appropriate venue for the work of a couturiére. Replying in the affirmative, I explained that many students of art history, among them the late Richard Martin, have written knowledgeably about costume design, considering it part of our visual culture. If art museums can give pride of place to quilts, like those of the women of Geeıs Bend at the Whitney, why not fashion design?

Books by and about two other remarkable pairs of women, the sisters Beecher (Harriet and Catharine) and Allen (Frances and Mary) are also reviewed. Anna Novakov writes that the "ideas on domestic space and the family" that the Beechers introduced in The American Womanıs Home (1869), reissued and introduced by Nicole Tonkovich, "still resonate with feminist architectural theorists." The Allens were successful Pictorial photographers at the turn of the last century, celebrated for their idealized images of rustic New England life. The book by Suzanne Flynt (reviewed by Tina Cohen) includes 100 full-page plates of the sistersı enchanting images.

Serendipitously, we publish essays on a trio of early American modernists, all "new women": Josephine (Jo) Nivison Hopper (1883-1968), Marguerite Thompson Zorach (1887-1968), and Peggy Bacon (1895-1987). It is the second appearance in WAJ for Hopper and Bacon and the third for Zorach. The three artists had much in common: They were well educated and traveled widely, were part of the Art Students League and bohemian Greenwich Village milieus (as were the Elsas), and married artist colleagues.

Efram Burk discusses Zorachıs rarely seen prints, mostly linocuts, which, he writes, "can be read as entries in a pictorial journal, with the imagery portraying Marguerite as wife and mother, caregiver and nurturer." Sara Mengs compares the urban scene etchings of Bacon and her teacher John Sloan. Although both were inspired by the people and places they observed in New York City, they communicate distinctive viewpoints, shaped primarily by "gender difference," writes Mengs.

The reputations of both Zorach and Bacon have arguably surpassed those of their respective spouses, but Josephine Nivison chose as a mate Edward Hopper, one of the giants of American art, and her reputation has been subsumed by his. Elizabeth Colleary has found, in a private collection, some of her early oils, among them Forest Scene (1914-23), on the cover, proving that Nivison was an accomplished modernist.

Photographer Francesca Woodman was 22 when she committed suicide in 1981. During her brief life she created more than 500 prints, most self-representations, in which she merges with her surroundings. She has since become almost a cult figure among feminist critics, the articles about her mostly theoretical, as is the one here by Jui-Chıi Liu.

Stepping back several centuries, Mindy Nancarrow writes about 17th-century Spanish vidas, the spiritual biographies of saints. Consisting of both text and image, their purpose was the "construction of sanctity." Five images of female saints are reproduced along with Nancarrowıs essay; she reports on the miracles associated with each.

In a tour de force of writing, Therese Dolan reviews two recent Manet books, one by Nancy Locke and the other by Carol Armstrong. Both "closely analyze Manetıs construction of gender relations to decipher the artistıs social world and its pictorial history." Each author, Dolan writes, offers personal and ultimately different readings of the same paintings.

Although the focus is different in Challenging Tradition: Women of the Academy, 1826-2003, by David Dearinger and Isabelle Dervaux (reviewed by Virginia Rembert), and Painting Professionals: Women Artists and the Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930, by Kristen Swinth (reviewed by Pamela Simpson), many of the same artists appear in both books. While the National Academy accepted women members early on - most were related to the male academicians (women still account for only 20 percent of the membership but 70 percent of the student body). The early works are mostly self-portraits, a requirement for each new member, and two powerful ones are reproduced in color here. By doing in-depth research into womenıs experiences in the art schools, professional organizations and the art market, Swinth presents a nuanced reading of the period 1870-1930, writes Simpson. Progress in art education can be seen in two depictions of life classes at the Art Students League reproduced here. A 1909 photograph from the book shows a womanıs life class; Peggy Baconıs Sketch Class from ten years later is fully integrated.

Also reviewed are a slim volume of Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeckıs haunting self-portraits (by Frances Borzello) and the catalogue for the Whitneyıs Joan Mitchell retrospective (reviewed by Joan Marter). One of Schjerfbeckıs self portraits was on the cover of WAJ (Spring/Summer, 1995). All 59 of Mitchellıs large-scale paintings from the exhibit are reproduced in the catalogue, and two, South (1989) and Sunflowers (1990-91), are on our back cover.

Another pair of reviews are of catalogues for two young African-American conceptual artists, Ellen Gallagher and Kara Walker. Both use provocative images that "pay peculiar homage to Jim Crow stereotypes that would be untenable if produced by a white artist today," writes reviewer Lisa Farrington.

Cassandra Langer initially titled her review of three exhibits and catalogues of feminist artwork from the 1970s "Back to the Future." Re-viewing this work again after all these years, she is amazed at its audacity and questions whether it would be tolerated in todayıs political climate. Langer also revisited Judy Chicagoıs The Dinner Party (1979), newly ensconced at the Brooklyn Museum. She claims that it has held up "surprisingly well" and "still has political urgency."

When the College Art Association met in Seattle eleven years ago, we were charmed by the local coffee shop, Starbucks. It is now global in reach, as is the CAA, which returned to that city in February 2004. Attendees and book fair exhibitors came from the European Union and the former Soviet bloc as well as from Asia and Africa. The largest contingent we encountered, seven art historians from Israel, were all women (as one explained, because the pay is so low). Each was a presenter on a panel. Some of the women did not know each other previously, as there is no comparable art association in Israel. They instead reach out globally to those sharing their areas of interest. Their research (on Victorian images and Vittoria Colonna, Kahlo and Giacometti, Byzantine mosaics and Islamic art) has little to do with the terror in their daily lives. They show us our humanity comes from how we deal with trauma. Life and art go on.

About Woman's Art Journal

Published semiannually—May and November—since 1980, Woman's Art Journal continues to represent the interests of women and art worldwide. Our articles and reviews cover all areas of women in the visual arts, from antiquity to the present day. Each issue presents current research on a variety of topics, featuring "portraits" of women artists, "issues and insights," and discerning reviews of recent books and exhibition catalogues. Each article is well researched and clearly written. Our authors are international scholars in their fields. A typical 60-page issue contains 20-25 color plates and 25-35 black-and-white illustrations.

WAJ is indexed on all major art indexes and bibliographies, and is used as a supplementary text in many university courses on women and art. The journal is found in university and major libraries worldwide and in selected museum bookshops, including the Metropolitan (New York), Philadelphia, and Nelson-Atkins (Kansas City), and the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.).

WAJ is available by subscription.

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Contact

Elsa Honig Fine, Editor and Publisher
Woman's Art Journal
1711 Harris Road
Laverock, PA 19038
waj@womansartjournal.org

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