The Female Body In Art
From the Renaissance to the present day, this is the history of art told through the female form, with over 80 works of art .
A cultural mirror of the times, the female body has captivated both artists and audiences for centuries. But what can we learn from these pieces of art? What are they trying to tell us about the world we live in? And how has that changed over time?
Explore luminous portraiture by Gustav Klimt, Lee Miller’s unapologetic wartime photography and the ground-breaking performance art of Marina Abramovic. Meet Leonor Fini’s shepherdess, Barkley L. Hendricks’s ‘Madonna’, Graciela Iturbide’s ‘Medusa’, Toyin Ojih Odutola’s adventuresses and Hayv Kahraman’s ‘army of fierce women’. Discover the idealized female body as envisioned by Sandro Botticelli and Peter Paul Rubens and the gender non-conforming portraits by Zanele Muholi and Yuki Sikhara, as Amy Dempsey looks at how and why the female body has been depicted time and time again, and why its portrayal has often delivered important messages about – and to – the world.
With a foreword by writer and curator Hettie Judah.
Named one of the best art books of 2025 in Spain by El Confidencial.
See review here (Spanish)