The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World

About this book

Accompanies an exhibition at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Philadelphia from November 2012 to April 2013 The Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women is a collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) of approximately 400 works of art including paintings photographs drawings watercolors pastels collage prints fabric pieces ceramics bronze wood and sculpture in other media by over 150 artists. The collection includes works by artists such as Louise Bourgeois Joan Brown Viola Frey Ana Mendieta Alice Neel Louise Nevelson Christina Ramberg Betye Saar Kiki Smith Nancy Spero and Beatrice Wood among many others. This accessibly written fully illustrated publication includes ten new essays on women artists since the 1920s. The chief aim is to document and celebrate this unprecedented gift in PAFAs history. The book breaks new ground in scholarship on its topics takes risks with interpretation and uses the broad themes and wide array of artists represented in the collection as a starting point for reflections on the history of the feminist movement individual artists and regional identities. Artists from the collection have a strong voice throughout the publication through interviews writings and the incorporation of archival materials. The Linda Lee Alter Collection catalogue will be the lasting document of the collection and will accompany the traveling version of the exhibition which is projected to travel to four national venues in 2013 and 2014.