In this provocative and richly interdisciplinary study Bridget Elliott and Jo-Ann Wallace reappraise the literary and artistic contribution of women to modernism and in particular the self representation and construction of artistic identity. Taking a comparative case study approach, the authors examine the ways in which women, including Natalie Barney, Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and Gertrude Stein responded to modernism, and the manner in which their work has been positioned in relation to that of men.
Women Artists and Writers makes an important contribution to twentieth-century cultural history, and puts forward a powerful case against the academic ‘disciplining’ of cultural production into departments of Art History and English Studies which has served to marginalize the work of female modernists. This book will be essential reading for all women’s studies specialists and anyone interested in the cultural production of art and literature.
