A really interesting and thought-provoking exploration of the depiction of women throughout art. I appreciated McCormack's decision to focus on art, but also place it contextually within the world, really embracing an interdisciplinary approach. I don't think the title does the best job conveying the breadth of material and subject matter being explored. I will probably be adding a physical copy of this to my personal collection

If you are a fan of art this is great book for you. Catherine McCormack takes us throughout the history of Western art to break down how females are depicted from the viewpoint of male artists and then how female artists highlight women.

With Women in the Picture McCormack creates a beautifully written, broad-ranging survey of feminist concerns in Western art history that serves as an entry point to feminist art history for general audiences and enriches enthusiasts’ understanding of the field. McCormack investigates the work of big names--Botticelli, Michelangelo, Morisot, Gentileschi, Ringgold, Beyoncé--as well as that of more niche figures like Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Leonor Fini, to explore four major archetypes of womanhood in art history and visual culture: Venus, the mother, the damsel, and the monstrous woman.

Within this four-archetype structure, McCormack also takes time to specifically address the implications these archetypes have for Black women’s bodies and how they are portrayed, a welcome and necessary element, given art history’s tendency to focus primarily on white, Western images, bodies, and artists. The relationship of the four archetypes to queerness, transness, and non-binary identities is occasionally discussed, but I think the book would have benefited from a little more engagement with this (for example, the “monstrous women” chapter seems like a perfect opportunity to discuss the current cultural tendency to characterize trans women’s bodies as “monstrous” or “deceptive.”) Overall, I’d love to see even more broad-ranging and intersectional analysis in this book, not because there’s any great lack of it, but because I enjoy McCormack’s analysis and want to see how far she can take it and what interesting images she can bring in for discussion.

Women in the Picture is a great addition to art lovers’ personal libraries, with elegant prose and insightful, well-supported analysis, not just of the art historical canon, but of contemporary visual and pop culture. There are some points which may be a little difficult for general readers to penetrate, and possibly some missed opportunities for further analysis, but I’d absolutely recommend this book regardless of one’s art education level.

I have enjoyed returning many times to peruse this author’s book “The Art of Looking Up” so I was excited to read her latest book, especially with an Artemisia Gentileschi image on the cover. I was disappointed to find it was just a rant of what is considered modern feminist theory. It could have been said in an eight page college level paper. Just a circular argument with a great cover. Pass. I received an advance copy of this book from Net Galley

This was a hard book to read, even though I'm glad I did. It's a thorough, thoughtful exploration of how women are portrayed in art, from renaissance standards to Beyonce. It highlights tropes, reductions, stereotypes, sexualization, objectification, infantilization, racism...and also how artists are actively working against this, and how critics, historians, curators, and even thoughtful consumers are holding museums/galleries/publications to account.

I'm sure there were good reasons why it wasn't possible, and the author did an excellent job of description, but it would have been so helpful to see more of the works discussed. I wound up keeping a browser tab open as I read so I could look up images. I had to take breaks, sometimes due to anger and sometimes to really ponder a point made, but I came away from this with new perspectives and ideas and for that I'm happy.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

This is a great study in feminism and art. I had seen Mary Beard's documentary concerning the same subject, but was interested in how McCormack would take things. It really made me think about a question that had been on my mind: was nudity in art really about beauty? She makes a good case that it is not, and then takes it further. Women in art are a window into a masculine dominated society's portrayal of their social standing.

One suggestion: include the art at the beginning of each chapter so that it could be easily referred to as McCormick describes them.