Domestic Goddesses

Domestic Goddesses by Edith Vonnegut. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780764906879.

In this funny and insightful book, artist Edith Vonnegut takes issue with traditional art imagery in which women are shown as weak and helpless. Through twenty-seven paintings that harken in style and tone to the works of the classical masters, she skillfully--and humorously--illustrates her maxim that the lives of mothers and homemakers are filled with vital decisions and challenges that should be portrayed with the dignity they deserve. In Vonneguts paintings, one woman bravely blocks the sun from harming a child (Sun Block) while another vacuums the stairs with angelic figures singing her praises (Electrolux). In contrasting her own Domestic Goddesses with the diaphanous women of classical art (seven paintings by masters such as Titian and Botticelli are included), she expresses the importance of traditional roles of women so cleverly and with such joy that her message and images will be forever emblazoned on our collective psyche.